I Still Haven't Found What I'm Looking For
by kathryn518
Summary: Ahsoka Tano left the Jedi Order, walking away after their betrayal. She did not consider the consequences of what her actions might bring, or the danger she might be in. A chance run in with a single irreverent, and possibly crazy, person in a bar changes the course of fate for an entire galaxy.
1. A Chance Meeting

**Timeline: 19 yrs BBY - X number of months prior to Separatists invasion of Coruscant where Palpatine is kidnapped by Grievous At least 9 months before Order 66**

**Scenario Start: Ahsoka's name has been cleared of any wrong-doing and the Order is now aware that Bariss was a traitorous bitch, but she had quit the Order after the betrayal.**

**-o0o0o-**

The bar was a relatively quiet one. Surprisingly so, given that it wasn't far from a main thoroughfare. The sound from the traffic nearby was reduced to no more than a dull and distant roar.

A Togruta female sat in a chair at a bar. She was idly swirling the teal liquid in her glass around, not really paying attention to her surroundings. She was utterly lost in her thoughts.

The bartender in front of her, who was an incredibly busty Zeltron female in a skin tight bodysuit that not only left absolutely nothing to the imagination as to what lay underneath, but had a portion cut out on her top to reveal an impressive amount of cleavage. Ahsoka knew she was young and still had some growing to do, but despite having finally begun to fill out in the past few months, she would never have the bust of the Zeltron.

The bartender had inquired several times about whether the young girl wished for another drink. Despite her occasional inquiries, the woman hadn't done it in a way to be insistent about buying another or in irritation with Ahsoka taking up a seat at her bar. The young girl thought it a genuinely nice change of pace from her previous experiences of wasting times in bars. Especially considering how deep she was in the side of Coruscant the politicians didn't wish to talk about and the news crews long realized should never be shown to the public.

Drinking, unfortunately for the goddess serving customers at the bar, wasn't on the forefront of the Togruta's mind. In fact, she had barely touched whatever it was that was inside her glass. The request '_Surprise me!'_ had always brought Sky-Guy interesting looks, and often free information out of the banter established, but right now she didn't have the energy for the follow through that would be required, nor any reason for it.

Today, had been a day like no other in her admittedly insane life. The decision to walk away from the Jedi Temple had been both the easiest and hardest thing she had ever done. The problem she was only now truly realizing was that the Jedi Order had been her _entire_ life. She had next to no recollection of her life prior to the age of three when her Force sensitivity had been discovered on the planet of Shili by Jedi Master Plo Kloon, someone she still felt as a sort of father figure to her.

Of course that meant nothing when she had been standing in the pit before the Jedi Masters who had passed judgement on actions they thought she had taken.

Every possible close tie and relationship she had was connected to the Jedi Order. Idly she wondered if that was another reason why the Jedi took children from their families; to give them really no place to go, other than the temple. Ahsoka admitted to herself that the thought was rather cynical and bitter but at the moment she didn't much care.

Someone slid up beside her at the bar and leaned forward arms over the bar as he leaned forward. Ahsoka barely glanced over at him, as the unassuming human male's profile didn't register as being important to her at all. She did register that he had dark brown hair, or maybe black. She didn't really care to focus on his features.

The bartender in front of her however lit up with a wide smile in recognition. Ahsoka did note that it didn't seem to be the false happiness many bartenders across the galaxy would do for repeat customers so that they would attempt to purchase more alcohol in an attempt to kill their livers or whatever bodily organ the species had that might process alcohol through the body. No, this bartender was genuinely happy that this man was here.

"Harry! Long time no see! Last time I heard you were out exploring some old ruins on… Ziost or something?" The bartender grinned at him, her arms braced on her hips.

The man, presumably the aforementioned Harry, chuckled good naturedly. "Keeping tabs on me?" Ahsoka realized he spoke with a pleasant accent, albeit one she couldn't identify offhand.

The bartender grinned, "Nah, one of my suppliers mentioned he'd hauled some cargo out that way and docked near your ship."

Harry laughed and groused playfully, "The paint job, no doubt."

"Got it in one!" The zeltron laughed and nodded with a bright smile. "So… the usual I presume?"

"Of course. Closest to a good cup that I don't have to make myself or that doesn't taste like liquid dirt." The human male chuckled an amused way.

Ahsoka Tano repressed a sigh, she felt a pang in her heart as the sound was almost identical to the one SkyGuy used to give her when she'd been a touch too enthusiastic about something or he was humoring her.

"Yeah yeah, that's why you keep coming back." The zeltron said as she turned around and seemed to be heating up something judging by the little spurts of steam coming out of one of the drink mixers.

Harry winked at the Zeltron. "You know I keep coming back for your wonderful company, the tea is just a bonus!"

"Flatterer," The bartender said a moment later as she slid a cup across the bar.

"Maybe, but you love it." Harry said as he slid a credit chip across the bar carelessly. She rolled her eyes and picked up the credit chip, depositing it quickly.

To Ahsoka it was obviously familiar banter between the two and enough of a distraction to give her something to focus on beyond her own troubles.

He picked up the steaming cup and took a sip, before closing his eyes and letting out a deep sigh of satisfaction at whatever was in the cup. He allowed a slow smile to cross his face. "Perfect as always."

The zeltron snorted and rolled her eyes, "You know you're the only one that drinks that swill."

Harry looked affronted, though Ahsoka could tell from his tone that it was teasing. "This… '_swill'_ is the best drink in the galaxy! Believe me I know. I've tried most of them."

"Yes, but it has no alcohol in it. Most who come here aren't looking for drinks without alcohol. In fact, I'm relatively certain that some of my patrons are unaware that there actually exists drinks that don't contain alcohol." She said, her tone turning thoughtful. Then the bartender focused her attention to Ahsoka. "Except of course that one sitting beside you. Hers isn't any more alcoholic than yours."

Harry barely glanced over at Ahsoka, dismissing her casually. "Their loss." He replied easily, turning his attention back to the bartender. Ahsoka noticed how his eyes lingered in her bared cleavage before he continued after taking a sip of his tea.

"Any deliveries for me to pick up?" he asked.

"Several, you've been gone almost six months. I keep dropping them into the safety box you gave me." The bartender had already chuckled and stepped around to the storeroom right behind her, returning a few seconds later with a metal box which she set on the top of the bar.

Ahsoka peered curiously at the box with a frown on her face, it was a decent sized box, but it almost seemed hard to notice, unless she was looking right at it, otherwise her eyes seemed to slide right off. On the top of the box was a little opening to slide things in, but otherwise the box seemed like a solid hunk of metal.

Harry ran his hand over the side of the box, Ahsoka had gone back to studying her glass so as not to be too nosy, but she looked up sharply when she felt a small surge in the Force.

Harry was either oblivious or unconcerned by her sudden interest in his actions as the box opened up from a seam that hadn't appeared to be there before. Inside the box were packages of several different sizes that Harry idly began sorting through. He piled several datacards into one pile, and a couple of other packages that seemed to be small lumps into another. The packages that weren't data cards seemed to disappear into his jacket with quick movements.

Harry hummed softly before shutting the case and running his hand over it again in a curious gesture before pushing it back across to the bartender who took it without hesitation to store it in the back again. "Anything interesting?" she asked curiously

Harry shrugged a bit as he slid a card into a datareader to begin perusing it. "I dunno, we'll find out. Though… I wonder if you 'accidentally' slipped any more pictures of yourself in there like the last time I was gone."

The bartender winked at him. "You'll just have to check all the data cards to find out won't you?"

Harry chuckled as he took a sip of his tea, idly flicking through information on his reader, humming and seemingly oblivious to anyone around him.

Ahsoka was still watching him curiously when she felt something press against the back of her head.

"Don't move, _Jedi." _A harsh voice said from behind her.

Ahsoka froze, realizing that it was the business end of a blaster that was currently resting against the back of her head. She cursed herself for being so distracted as to let someone sneak up on her. She also cursed her lack of a lightsaber as it would no doubt be coming in handy right about now.

Leaving the Jedi Order had been a rather spur of the moment decision that afternoon after the courts had been forced to see that she was innocent. She, rather stupidly she admitted in retrospect, didn't reclaim her only dependable weapon.

She attempted to go another route, by attempting to bluff her way out of the situation. She spoke slowly trying to inject terror into her voice, "J… jedi? Me? N..No, I'm not, you've got the wrong person." She attempted to subtly use a mind trick on the person, though not even being able to see them hindered her effort somewhat.

She was not at all helped by the snort from the human, Harry. She couldn't tell if he was laughing at her situation, or her clumsy attempt to manipulate the person behind her while under stress. The laugh was most assuredly directed at her though.

She wondered what kind of person could laugh at a person facing this misfortune and wished she'd get a chance to make him think twice about laughing at someone in trouble. Otherwise he simply sat there continuing to read and take another sip of his tea, seemingly unconcerned with the situation developing beside him. Unfortunately, the attitude was matched by many others in the bar, they were either unconcerned or glancing over to make sure the business didn't involve them.

Ahsoka Tano was unsurprised by this, well aware that was how things worked in less reputable areas. No one wanted to intervene for risk of getting themselves drawn in and possibly eating a blaster bolt for their troubles.

The bartender was looking over past Ahsoka's shoulder and to each side with wide eyes, something Ahsoka took to be a relatively bad sign. That meant there were more than just the one behind her.

She could hear the sneer in the voice as it replied. "Don't try to lie, we saw your trial on the holonet… Me and the boys Laughed up a storm when the Jedi looked like they'd eaten dianoga poodu at the end, in fact." There was a chuckle from at least two others behind her.

"But now the words out that you're no longer with the Order, and that just means that you have no backup here, little Jedi." The voice continued with scorn.

Ahsoka frowned wondering how on earth the word had gotten out that she had turned down admittance into the order. It had only happened a few hours ago!

"You will bring in a very nice bounty from any one of several very interested parties." The voice continued, the barrell of the blaster not moving from the back of her head. "I'm just happy me and my guys were already here, and lucky enough to run into you first."

Ahsoka's eyes widened and she couldn't keep the look of shock off of her face. Not only had word circulated that she was out of the order, but somehow she had a bounty placed on her head? And people willing to collect on it? Especially here on Coruscant, a system that wasn't exactly friendly and welcoming to any bounty hunters that ventured through.

There was no missing the excitement in the voice of the man as he continued to speak, "The bounty on you is six figures, nearing seven if you're alive!" The excitement dropped and his voice turned grim again. "But I don't want any of your Jedi tricks, I'll happily take the dead bounty if you even think of giving us trouble."

Ahsoka couldn't help the scowl that crossed her face. Being put on trial as a traitor to the Republic was not one of her best moments and now at least one of the enemies she made working with such a high profile was looking to bite her in the ass.

She squared her shoulders and tried to sound as calm and confident as possible. "Look, I don't want any trouble."

The person behind her didn't so much as hesitate, "Good, then you'll put these binder cuffs on." as a pair of binder cuffs clattered onto the bar counter beside her. She looked at them and looked at the counter for anything she might be able to use as a weapon with surprise on her side. Unfortunately the only thing within reach was her cup and she had no idea how many people were holding blasters on her.

"And if I don't?" She asked, stalling for time as her mind raced. She'd be a lot less likely to escape or put up a fight if her hands were cuffed especially if she couldn't manage to get uncuffed.

"Well, the bounty on you dead is just fine with us too. Alive is just worth a good deal more. And they haven't specified just _how_ alive you have to be." The sneer in the tone was obvious once more.

Ahsoka started to turn to face the speaker, but the barrell of the gun pressed against her head stopped her as much as the harsh. "I told you, you move you're dead. Do anything I don't like you're dead. Either put on the binders or we settle for the dead part of 'dead or alive.'"

The voice brooked no nonsense or options and Ahsoka could sense that he meant every word he said. She was tempted to push him back with the Force but that probably wouldn't stop him from pulling the trigger on his blaster and then she'd be dead.

Even if she did manage to make him miss, she also had no idea if any of the others had their blasters pointed at her or how she might manage to avoid all of them.

For just a moment she closed her eyes and felt despair well up inside of her. Barely away from the Order for less than a few hours and already she was being held captive. Only this time there would be no friends to look for her if she went missing. There would be no SkyGuy grumpily showing up to help his apprentice out of the latest mess she had blundered into. She didn't even have a lightsaber she could reclaim to get herself out of this mess.

Ahsoka realized she had to hope that her captors slipped up, since anyone taking bounties out on Jedi was not someone she particularly wanted to meet. Especially those brazen enough to try and collect such things on Coruscant itself where authorities took a rather dim view of anyone trying to hunt Jedi.

She reached for the cuffs on the bar, emphasized by the voice from behind her that said "_Slowly. _No quick moves or I add a hole to that pretty little head of yours."

Unfortunately as she reached for them, Harry chose that moment to set down his data pad with a sigh of resignation and a slight shake of his head. He reached out and plucked the binders up off the bar and almost idly moved them from hand to hand as he looked across the bar, staring at seemingly nothing with a contemplative expression on his face, apparently ignoring everyone behind him.

Ahsoka froze, wondering what the stranger from before was even thinking, getting involved and likely getting himself shot, especially as he didn't seem armed.

The guy holding the blaster on her seemed taken aback by the sudden move. "Hey buddy, give those to the girl."

Ahsoka hadn't moved but Harry turned around to face the person holding her under his blaster, while he clasped his hands together, holding the binders. Ahsoka turned slightly to watch the man who had seemingly taken leave of his senses, though her slight turn didn't generate a rebuke this time.

It also gave her a line of sight to the people holding her. She saw at least three people behind her holding blasters out and pointed her way, though one had turned to point the blaster at the man who had picked up the binder clips. Because of her montrails and the sort of echolocation they provided, she could also tell there were more people outside her line of vision but didn't want to draw attention to herself by turning that way.

She could tell that most of the attention was now on the man whom she mentally thanked for the distraction. She was just promising herself to try and get him out of this alive when she felt it again, the man moved his hands slightly and she felt a slight surge in the Force. Though she could tell none of the people with blasters had, because with their itchy trigger fingers they would have already shot.

The leader spoke up once more, taking control of the situation, his harsh voice practically snarling at the man, "Unless you want to eat a blaster bolt, give the girl the binders. Or better yet, Put them on her."

"What binders?" Harry asked as he opened his hands, cupped in a bowl position while simultaneously leaning forward toward the men.

Even Ahsoka's attention was drawn to his hands, despite realizing it would be the perfect distraction. Sure enough, instead of a set of binders all that was sitting in his hands was a small pile of black albeit glinting, powder.

"What? Where did you put the binders?" The man demanded, his weapon now also trained on Harry.

Harry looked supremely unconcerned by the weapons now pointed in his direction. He slowly brought his cupped hands upward, allowing all of the men to get a good look and see and in fact, look more closely at the oddly glinting powder that was certainly not reflecting light in a way Ahsoka seen anything else do previously.

In a surprise movement, Harry suddenly blew the black powder forward and Ahsoka once more felt a surge in the Force and suddenly the entire area was plunged into a wide cloud of pure darkness.

There were several gasps of shock from all around and one of the men behind her shouted "Who turned off the damn li-"

Ahsoka however wasn't stuck with just using her eyes. Her montrals had hollow spaces in them that gathered information ultrasonically.

The instant darkness had covered the area, Ahsoka read through her montrals that Harry hadn't wasted any time in stepping forward into the cloud of darkness. She could tell as he moved into the group of bounty hunters and she felt several more of those small unexplained surges in the Force.

Of course her amazement was cut short when she also heard two blaster shots that were followed afterward by screams from a small number of the gathered patrons, though many more seemed to crouch low and reach for weapons of their own.

Ahsoka herself rolled out of her chair, not wanting to be there if a blaster bolt whizzed her way. She hadn't seen where either of the bolts hit, nor who fired them but she also wasn't interested in standing still as she collected more information on the shooters since she was likely to be both a convenient and a priority target.

A moment later there was silence all around.

Ahsoka felt another small surge of Force once more and the darkness in the area seemed to fade quickly. The cloud of darkness collapsed upon itself, and gathered itself rapidly back into Harry's hand.

Ahsoka watched the dust gather in his hands and then she looked around completely stunned. When the darkness cleared it revealed six people on the ground unconscious right in front of her at the stool she had been sitting at. And among the other tables a decent distance from the bar, a single person toppled out of their chair unconscious and sprawled out on the ground as well. Though his chest moved so it was easy to tell he was still breathing.

She stood up and was about to say something when she caught movement behind the bar. Ahsoka had noticed the bartender slump against the wall, but instead of standing up now that danger was over she looked at Harry and Ahsoka in shock.

Harry's attention seem to be drawn by the same thing. Ahsoka saw the woman clutching a hand over her chest and smelt as much as saw the burnt fabric and flesh from where the blaster bolt set to kill, had hit her.

She opened her mouth as if to say something, but no sound came out and then she toppled to the side with a weak grunt as her body impacted the floor behind the bar.

"Oh, hell." Harry muttered already in motion as he took a step forward and vaulted the bar with an economy of movement that Ahsoka attributed to most Jedi. Especially as she was only a moment behind him, though she doubted there was anything she could do for the woman.

Harry was already crouched down beside her and gently but firmly pulled the bartenders arms away from her chest.

Ahsoka took one look and, and from her two years of near constant fighting in the war, could see that the wound was almost certainly a mortal one. Likely, the only thing that could save the woman would be dropping her in bacta right this second, and the nearest bacta tank wasn't within a click of the bar.

The bartender was making a gasping sound as she tried to bring air into lungs that were no longer whole. Ahsoka saw her try and speak several times, her mouth moving but no sounds emerged.

The bartender looked up at him with fear in her eyes but Harry's voice was calm and gentle as he placed his hands over the wound, "Shh. Just take a minute and catch your breath. You're going to be fine."

Ahsoka narrowed her eyes at his lie but chose to hold her tongue, starting an argument while the woman lay dying wouldn't be beneficial. Though she felt giving her false hope was just as bad.

However she was distracted by the feeling of the Force once more being used. Only this time the feeling was much stronger. She looked at Harry to see what he was doing, but he was ignoring her.

His eyes were intent on the Zeltron female, as his hands pressed against her chest. And then without warning there was a tremendous surge in the Force. For just a moment Ahsoka felt like she was in the presence of pure Force as it moved around her and through her, but seemed to focus in the area in front of her.

It was both the strangest and most amazing feeling she could remember feeling in a long time. But then as quickly as it had arrived it tapered off and disappeared. Leaving Ahsoka breathing hard as she tried to put names to all the sensations she had just felt.

Her eyes regained focus by movement in front of her as a moment later Harry pulled his hands away from the bartender's chest area.

Ahsoka blinked as she saw pure unblemished skin where his hands had been. She quite literally had to do a double take to confirm that her eyes weren't deceiving her in some way. But the wound showed now clear, and seemingly completely unblemished skin, the only sign there had been a wound was the blaster hole that was burnt into her top.

The woman took a deep breath and arched slightly as her lungs filled up with air, a sound of almost desperate relief escaping her throat before she started to cough weakly between several breaths. Ahsoka found herself reaching forward hesitantly, wanting to touch the place the wound had been and confirm for herself, before she remembered exactly where the woman had gotten shot, and pulled back her hands, a blush marring her features.

Harry leaned back, and with a subtle movement of his fingers, Ahsoka felt a surge in the Force. She watched, without anything obstructing her vision as the fabric of her clothes seemed to stitch itself together to the point that it was nearly indistinguishable from the cloth that had been untouched by the weapon fire.

Harry looked at the woman once more and Ahsoka felt a small surge of the Force though she couldn't see any effects from it. The woman shook her head slowly as if shaking off a daze.

"Looks like you were nearly hit by a stray bolt and had the wind knocked out of you when you fell." Harry's voice was kind, but firm as he described a completely ridiculous situation to the shaken bartender.

The woman shook her head a little bit before she ran her hands over her chest slowly, almost fearfully and seemed to be surprised that she was in one piece. But Harry didn't give her time to dwell, hopping to his feet and offering her a hand to stand up.

She hesitated only a moment before she took the proffered hand, that pulled her to her feet with one smooth movement. She grinned up at the green-eyed human flirtatiously, "You know Harry, if you really wanted to grope me, you didn't need an excuse. No need to make a production out of me tripping and falling..."

Ahsoka was barely able to keep her jaw from dropping open, mind tricks usually just left the person a bit dazed and susceptible to suggestion. But the bartender had just taken Harry's suggestion at face value and seemed to completely believe it.

"C'mon, the owner of this place is kind of a bitch, she wouldn't want you laying down on the job and flirting with the customers." Harry said with a smirk on his face. Then he paused and clarified slightly, "Or at least I think the objection would be that you're only flirting with one."

The bartender's eyes narrowed, "I'll remember that comment Harry, see if I keep accepting packages on your behalf."

Harry snorted at the empty threat. "You're paid for that." He reminded her with an amused smile.

She huffed a little bit, "Fine, then I'll stop slipping candid pictures in there to surprise you!"

Ahsoka had watched the entire exchange in both confusion and incredulity. The man, Harry was amused and acting like nothing serious had happened and the woman was laughing, all while the young togrutan stared at the two of them, and neither paid her the least bit of attention. Though in a way that was a good thing since she was still processing events as they occurred in the past few minutes.

Ahsoka had never encountered this Jedi Master before, but in quick succession she had seen him using the Force to take out 6 armed assailants. And he hadn't used a weapon as far as she could tell.

Then he had healed a woman that Ahsoka would have sworn was beyond hope, even if they had a bacta tank nearby, the time it would have taken to get there would have killed her. But the way he healed with the Force was something else. Certainly that was a far better and faster healing job than any of the Master's in the order would have managed to the best of her knowledge. Jedi healing was very effective but was slower and much more gradual. That woman did not have long enough to live to benefit from any of the healing techniques she had seen.

She had just seen him use what she assumed was a Jedi mind trick on the woman to get her to believe she hadn't been shot, but it had seemed far more effective than the ones she was used to seeing. With little haziness or obvious signs on the recipient like the repetition of speech and such.

But she had also seen the _impossible. _

She had never seen matter just change in the presence of the Force before, but that had just happened. She'd seen the Force bludgeon, push, pull, rotate, and lift things, and had certainly done all of those things herself. But she'd never witnessed anyone manipulate the Force so that state of matter itself seemed to modify and just… repair a damaged outfit like it was nothing.

Harry wasn't even paying her speculative gaze any attention as he walked around the bar and crossed his arms, looking at the pile of unconscious bodies. He looked over at the bartender, "You want anything to do with them?"

She rolled her eyes, "Want? Absolutely, but it's probably bad form if it got around that I had started offing or turning patrons over to the authorities. Even if they haven't settled up their tab yet."

Harry nodded and then grinned, letting out a theatrical mocking laugh. "That means they're mine to deal with right?"

The Zeltron shrugged, "One patron taking care of others who fired blasters in a bar? That's not something anyone can complain about."

Harry grinned and a mocking greedy look crossed his face as he rubbed his hands together. "Well, let's see if any of these fine upstanding gentlemen have bounties anywhere on them, and see if papa is gonna get himself a brand new navicomputer!"

Ahsoka had just been watching, but frowned at that statement, feeling the need to interject. Surprised that he had mentioned turning the men over for bounties. "Master, shouldn't we turn them over to the Jedi Temple?"

Harry turned to look at her, and for the first time she was struck by the vibrant emerald in his eyes, which she hadn't noticed before. As if by looking in his eyes she was able to focus on him, his features which she hadn't really catalogued before swam into view. An amused smile on his face, "A little young for the kinky master stuff aren't you?" he asked.

Before she would have said for certain he was male, with dark hair… but realized that she wouldn't have been able to get a better description of him than that, and wondered why she would have been so wishy washy on her observations. Her drink hadn't had any alcohol in it after all. Now the haze that seemed to be on his features faded. Overall she would certainly classify his face as handsome for a human. There was a scar that was faded white and marred his forehead but didn't seem to detract from his looks, but rather added to them.

However, it was at that point that his reply caught up with her and she found herself simultaneously sputtering and blushing.

His eyes danced in amusement, "Besides, why would I hand them over to the Jedi? Did I miss some announcement from those stuck-up old men that run the Order about them finally paying bounties for bringing in morons like these?"

Ahsoka found herself completely at a loss and managed to reply, somewhat lamely, "Well… no?" Though her tone was filled with confusion.

She had never seen this Jedi Master before, and while she had certainly heard Masters criticize the leadership of the Jedi in the past, it was usually in quiet murmurs. Occasionally, her Master… former Master… Anakin was a tad more vocal about his dissatisfaction but even he had never spoken so bluntly and so negatively about the council. This man took it to a whole new level.

Harry snorted at her response and rolled his sleeve back. Underneath he activated what looked like a comlink embedded in an elaborate leather bracer that seemed to contain a dozen different small bulges in it.

Ahsoka tilted her head curiously as from the mini-communication link floated the image of a droid that vaguely reminded her a protocol droid. However the torso seemed bulkier at the shoulders, and the head was oddly shaped, with a jutting overhang over the eyes of the droid.

"Minnie, can you check and find if any of these bozos have any bounties on them? I'm sure someone, somewhere wants at least one of them in some form."

The reply was a very prim and matron-like sounding voice, that seemed slightly out of place on the droid she was seeing, "What trouble did you get yourself into this time?"

Ahsoka frowned slightly, despite the obvious mechanical undertones, the droid reminded Ahsoka of the voice of the librarian in the central archives.

Harry continued speaking, as if he hadn't been chastised by a droid who attempted to act like a school teacher, "While you're at it, find out which system has the highest payout for them if for some bizarre reason, more than one person actually wants any of them. I'm not averse to some travelling to turn these screwballs in some place."

Harry turned his arm slightly and a light came out of his bracer and scanned the features of each of the thugs still lying unconscious on the floor. One of them was face down and Harry was forced to nudge that one with his boot to flip him over on his back so the scan could continue.

"You… you're going to turn them over for bounties?" Ahsoka finally found her voice, once more, though was no less confused. This was not Jedi behavior. The Order would typically go through proper legal channels to ensure that the criminals were properly tried. It was rather unthinkable to see a Jedi Master lower himself to turning in a bounty in person, much less collecting the money for himself.

"Meh, it depends on whether any of them have bounties that make it worth hauling them around anywhere." Harry shrugged lithely, his tone mostly apathetic. "If not I'll either leave them here at the tender mercy of the patrons of this fine establishment. Ones that they just endangered."

Harry seemed to consider that a moment before he shrugged again. "Or I'll just chuck 'em down one of the canyons here in the older districts. They'll just fall down to the lower levels. I'm sure something down there that's never seen sunlight will end up disposing of the bodies. I doubt anyone will miss these fools."

He blinked and seemed to realize he forgot something, holding out his bracer once more, and pointing it to the other patron that had tumbled out of his chair unconscious. "Minnie, that one too. He was the signaler." Harry gestured with his arm as another brief scan ran over the face of the downed person.

"Running recognition algorithms now and cross referencing with all known bounty profiles." The mechanical voice responded and then once more turned crisp and matronly. "Do not think this lets you off the hook. You will explain exactly what you did and how you ended up with a pile of unconscious ruffians, young man."

"I knew programming you with that personality would eventually irritate me." Harry muttered.

The mechanical voice started to reply, but only got as far as "Mis-" before Harry cut it off and rolled his eyes in response. "Minnie, save the lecture for later...or never. Besides, I have a feeling I'm about to receive a lesson on morals from my new friend here, so you can skip the one you intend to give me."

Harry shot a look at Ahsoka but before either of them could say anything there was a beep from the comlink.

Harry tilted his arm and a picture of the bounty hunter that had been the spokesman, and also incidentally the one that Harry had not so gently nudged over with his foot, floated in the air.

Minnie's clipped mechanical voice recited, "Tiddle Pon Tonk. Human. Male. 20,000 credits. Wanted in the Corusca Sector for suspected multiple instances of murder, property destruction, fleeing authorities and er… yes."

Harry's eyes narrowed, "And what? Minnie?"

"It is hardly pertinent..." came the clipped reply.

"Indulge me." Harry replied with exaggerated patience.

There was a pause and then in a very disapproving tone of voice, "Sexual molestation of what was classified as a religious artifact, thereby desecrating it."

"…. huh." Harry responded eloquently. Whatever he had expected, that had not been it. It took him a few moments to gather himself before he turned with a wide smile towards Ahsoka. "How does that make you feel? The man who molests religious things had his blaster up against your head."

Harry shuddered theatrically, "Who knows where he puts that thing when he's not shooting at people."

Ahsoka went to answer, but Minnie's voice broke in "The religious artifact that he molested was a Gamorrean Matron's-"

Harry cut off the audio on the comlink and visibly gagged, before he reactivated the comlink. He actually started to _giggle_ in response. "I hope they got pictures. Cases like that really _really_ should be beyond reproach."

Minnie's voice sounded vaguely ill, which was impressive for a droid. "There's video."

Harry blinked and then grinned wider before he looked down at his insensate attacker. "Oh yes, _definitely_ taking you back. If out of sheer amusement if nothing else… Minnie, any of the others have bounties on them?"

"All of the rest of them very minor bounties or simple BOLA's." Minnie's voice replied in her once more unruffled tones. "None of them are wanted on Coruscant, nor any of them for violent crimes or slavery. The cost of turning the bounties in would be less than travel expenditures."

"Any of the bounties in the same place where we could lump them together and make it worth a trip?" Harry asked more out of curiosity than real need to know.

"Negative." came Minnie's response.

"Allright. Then you might as well be ready for me. We weren't going to be here long anyway." Harry said with a sigh. He reached to shut down the comlink but Minnie's voice cut him off.

"You should also know that authorities are on their way," the droid cut in before Harry could disconnect from the link.

Harry frowned thoughtfully, "That's a surprise, usually they don't get here for a half an hour or so this far down, plenty of time for all parties to escape. Less paperwork and less danger to authorities."

"Apparently, they have two Jedi as escorts." Minnie replied.

"Ah. Oh right." Harry seemed to understand something that escaped Ahsoka before he nodded, "Okay, I'll be back in a bit."

Harry moved over to the bar and grabbed the datapad he had set down before picking up the binders, and sliding it into a pocket of his jacket. He then knelt down to the pile of thugs, and made a show of his hands moving over each of the thugs.

Ahsoka could feel minute surges of the Force as he did, though they were soft enough to be barely register. Blasters, holdout weapons, credit bags, and other trinkets seemed to just jump into his hands.

Once he had them in a pile, he lifted the items up and set them on the bar, with a nod to the bartender. "Use them to pay for the damages, and use the rest to treat yourself to some combat pay, instead of letting the authorities just confiscate it all when they didn't do a thing to stop this, or react in any sort of timely manner." He said with scorn in his voice.

Ahsoka watched the bartender just nod, but Harry was already turning away from her. He reached out and laid his hand on the waist of the man lying on his back, who hadn't so much as twitched since Harry rolled him over.

Ahsoka once more felt a small surge in the Force and then watched as Harry easily swung the guy off the ground and over his shoulder, looking not at all bothered by the weight

He turned and gave the bartender a final wave, "See you again next time I swing through!"

"Bye Harry! Next time bring me back something nice!" The bartender said with a grin on her face.

As he was about to exit the bar, Harry shouted back, "What? I'm not nice enough for you?"

The bartender grinned and shouted back before he got out of earshot, "Sure you are, but you never take me up when I ask you to let me show you what people from my world are famous for, so I need something else. A girl has needs!"

The last sound Harry made was a laugh as he headed out the door. Ahsoka blinked once more and then shook off her lassitude and sprinted after the man before he got out of sight.

"Wait, wait! Where are you going?" she demanded as she caught up with him.

Harry turned his head towards her as he walked out into the street, crowds of people walking by and apparently not reacting at all to the fact he carried an unconscious and heavily armed man upon his shoulder.

In fact, they seemed to unconsciously give them both a wide berth, even the ones who were engaged in conversations and hadn't looked once in their direction seemed to step to the side to avoid running into him.

"I'm headed back to my ship and then to wherever in the sector, Mister religious-fornicator here is wanted for." Harry replied, "Hopefully, it's right here, planetside. If I'm lucky I can just dump him at the bounty station before taking off." His tone was dismissive as he walked away, clearly attempting to bring an end to the conversation.

Ahsoka walked beside him stubbornly "You should be waiting back at the bar, if your friend was right about Jedi and authorities on the way, they'll want to talk to you."

Harry snorted, "If they wanted to talk to me, they should have gotten there before I left."

Ahsoka was brought up short and stopped in her tracks as she processed the blunt response that was somehow logical and illogical at the same time. She realized he hadn't stopped when she did so she was forced to quick step to keep up with him.

"Who are you?" She demanded as she caught back up with him

"Harry, nice to meet you, and you're welcome." He replied cheerily. barely glancing her way.

"Huh? Welcome for what?" Ahsoka asked, once more confused and finding this a normal state of affairs around him.

"Um, those guys did in fact have you dead to rights back there, and I was the one who saved your pretty little ass from our friend here." Harry said lifting his shoulder with the burden slightly.

"Hell, I even got…." he stopped for a second and frowned and then shrugged, "My bartender friend with the big chest who knows how to make good genuine English style tea, shot for my efforts."

"I didn't need saving from them. I'm not helpless, I would have gotten away." Ahsoka replied crossly. She hated feeling helpless.

Harry nodded agreeably. "Good for you. Humble too. Would that have been before or after Mr. Fornicates-with-Religious-Gamorrean-Matrons here added some more felonies to his docket?"

Ahsoka winced at that, and replied in a voice that was less than convincing. "I would have come up with something."

"I'm sure." Harry chuckled, his tone as much amused as patronizing.

His tone turned more serious, and the change seemed to be strange on him, like he suddenly switched personalities entirely. "You know, if you go in public, especially after apparently being on the holonet, people may recognize you. You're going to attract the attention of more idiots who want to kill you, or capture you Miss Jedi-who-claims-she's-not-a-Jedi."

He gestured at her clothing, or more pointedly, her almost lack thereof, "Jedi may normally wear robes, but your outfit is rather unique, especially with how much you've apparently been on the news. If even _I _recognize you, it's safe to say that you stand out, girl."

"Also, you may be one of the worst liars I have ever met." Harry frowned a bit and then seemed to get lost in some memory that actually caused a half smile to cross his face, "Seriously. Ever. Of all time. One of my best friends was horrible liar, and she was better at age eleven than you were in that bar."

She wanted to protest this declaration and insult towards her, but she really couldn't do so with any hint of truthfulness. Her performance in the bar had been atrocious, and it was lucky he was there to help. This man seemed to excel at blunt statements and criticisms, but it was almost bearable because she knew he meant no true insult by it, and actually wanted to be helpful.

His tone once more turned serious "You may also want to consider that everyone else in that bar was armed. Even… even… the bartender lady. Damnit, you distracted me from getting her name this time! I keep forgetting to do so! Call me old, but I really believe that if you feel someone up, you should at least know their name."

"Anyways, you really should consider bringing your lightsaber to situations like that, Miss Jedi." Harry finished his tone more exasperated than serious at the moment.

Ahsoka was having trouble keeping up with Harry's rapid emotional changes, from serious to joking to serious to frustrated but amused, she was getting some pretty severe mental whiplash. However his last statement seemed to deflate Ahsoka slightly "I'm not a Jedi…. at least… not any more."

Harry raised an eyebrow, and though he didn't break stride, he looked over at her forlorn expression and then visibly sighed. "You know. I'm sure I'm going to regret asking this. But why?"

Ahsoka hesitated a moment before replying, looking down at the ground. Her hand went to where her Padawan braid had once sat for several years now. She didn't want to really rehash but at the same time felt her statement deserved an explanation. "I… there was an explosion at the Temple. I was framed for causing it."

Her voice was a careful neutral as she spoke despite the emotions she felt. "The Jedi Order booted me out, and allowed me to be put on trial before the Senate."

"Yeah, that's where I recognized you from. Earlier today as I dropped outta Hyperspace. The holonet broadcasting something about the guilty party being found and you being not guilty. Some big scandal." Harry waved his hand carelessly. He hadn't really paid attention to any of the specifics and had only seen a few headlines.

Ahsoka nodded a little bit, "Other than my Master, none of them believed me." She tried but couldn't quite keep the bitterness from her voice. "My innocence was finally _proven_, which of course took my Master finding the actual culprit who turned out to be a fellow Jedi I thought was a friend. Afterwards, exactly _one_ Jedi Master apologized to me. The rest simply said '_They were proud of me for being strong enough to persevere through my trial'_."

Ahsoka's eyes narrowed in irritation, "Then they offered me a place back in the Order like nothing had happened."

She shook her head, disgust still in her voice, "I turned them down and left. That was only a few hours ago."

Harry paused a moment at that, his eyes narrowing slightly at her retelling, but looking entirely unsurprised. Finally he nodded, slightly in approval as he restarted walking. "Good for you. The Jedi Order is a buncha stuffy old sods who can't see what's directly in front of their faces, and that's going to come back and bite them in their collective asses."

He grinned at her wryly, "You did stick around long enough to tell them to stick their lightsabers where the stars don't shine, right?"

Ahsoka's bemused reply was cut off by the sound of someone calling her name. "Ahsoka Tano?"

She turned, belatedly realizing that Harry took a few moments longer to do so as he likely didn't know her full name yet. They both looked to the source of the voice and found themselves face to face with a group of six Republic Clone Troopers wearing all-white armor with no insignia. The troopers were behind and flanking two beings wearing jedi robes and looking at her seriously.

Ahsoka was about to bow her head instinctively before the two Masters, before she stopped herself and straightened. "Master Mundi, Master… Tre'jin." she instead nodded by way of greeting.

She recognized Ki-Adi-Mundi on sight, he was a member of the Jedi High Council. The other Master was initially unfamiliar to her and had taken her a moment to recall his face. She had only seen him a few times in passing, but Skywalker had never been fond of him. Apparently, the two had not liked each other from some incident at least a decade in the past when Anakin, outdueled him not long after receiving his first training saber, despite Anakin being several years the older man's junior, and many fewer years instruction in using a lightsaber.

"Padawan Tano, what are you doing here?" asked Master Ki-Adi-Mundi in lieu of a greeting of any sort.

"_Former_ Padawan. She is no longer a member of the our Order," interjected Master Tre'jin. There was definite condescension in his tone, and it was mirrored in the slight sneer on his face as he regarded the woman.

She felt Harry's hand touch her back suddenly. The tone of voice of those opposite her was definitely confrontational, and Harry surprised her by instantly letting her know in an unobtrusive manner that he would support her through just that light touch to her back.

"Masters", Ahsoka finally said respectfully, though it was easy to hear the momentary gritting of her teeth. "What are you doing here?" She inquired, striving to keep her voice polite, and definitely not answering the question initially posed to her by Mundi's rude form of greeting.

"There was some sort of disturbance in the Force near here and we're checking it out. Do you know anything about it?" Master Mundi again asked in his blunt manner as his eyes flicked back and forth between Ahsoka and Harry, who had stood there quietly, but still carried a man over his shoulder.

Ahsoka glanced involuntarily at Harry for a moment before she tilted her head back at their questioners, "What kind of disturbance?"

"Nearly every Jedi on the planet felt the disturbance, and Skywalker's former _protege_ is clueless, what a surprise." Master Tre'jin scoffed sarcastically.

Master Mundi spoke up, nearly cutting off the other Master, not really wanting it to degenerate into an argument. "It was a very powerful surge in the Force, unlike anything we've ever felt before, but it was only for a few seconds before it disappeared."

Ahsoka immediately knew it was when Harry had healed the bartender, and her first instinct was to say so. But just as she was about to open her mouth, she found herself reconsidering it. She realized that she didn't really feel the need to enlighten the two Masters as they ran off on what might become just another witch hunt. For all she knew, they'd probably do to Harry what they'd attempted to do to her in that sham trial she had been given.

She was about to say she hadn't felt anything, when Harry spoke up, rendering any chance or hope of him staying anonymous, impossible.

"Only able to sense something a few seconds with that hokey religion you guys use? It's obvious that the problem is one of two things." Harry was speaking calmly and looking thoughtful.

"Oh?" Master Mundi asked, focusing on Harry now, surprise in his tone. Ahsoka's expression mirrored that surprise, she certainly hadn't expected Harry to go telling the Jedi about what he had done, certainly not after his expressed opinions of the Order.

She glanced at him, seeing him plaster yet another odd look of pondering on his face. It was only due to her proximity to him that she realized that his eyes were occasionally darting to the distance, and each time he slightly turned his head, he was taking in all of the surroundings.

It struck Ahsoka quite suddenly, at the moment he may look calm on the outside, even a bit silly and stupid. But Harry was certainly preparing for a fight.

"Well, it's obvious innit? Either your senses are going, which is a sign of old age. You know how they always say the senses are the first to go. Or it's a stamina issue you have on your hands. Though I'm sure you're very familiar with dealing with a problem like that," Harry nodded earnestly, an impish smile on his face.

Both of the Jedi Master's stared at Harry with disbelief on their faces, a look that was exactly mirrored on Ahsoka's face as she looked him in disbelief. She couldn't fathom what had possessed him to go this route instead of explaining the situation, or even attempting to lie their way through it. To insult them to their faces was something she would've never pondered, let alone attempted.

Harry however wasn't bothered by the shock she knew he could see as well as sense coming from her as he made a show of looking up and down the two masters. "Definitely performance issues, I guess it happens to the best of you." He nodded.

"What… we don't… that's not… you…" Master Mundi stuttered out, no one had ever spoken to him like that before and he had no idea how to respond. He was a member of the Jedi High Council, and was used to all manner of sentient being fawning over themselves whenever they was in his presence.

Harry nodded slowly along, content to pretend as if he was pleased with the two Jedi's agreement with his analysis, when suddenly, he gave them an incredulous look and raised his voice slightly, attracting the attentions of several different passerbyes. His voice suddenly sounded outraged, and only Ahsoka recognized the acting in his voice as she'd already witnessed his change in tone several times.

"You Jedi really have no shame do you? I mean _really!_ Going around and announcing your deficiencies like that to just anyone!"

He adopted a furtive look and gave yet another glance around, though his voice didn't drop at all. "You do know that there are pills and stims you can take that will help you get it up? Most medicenters dispense them now, you don't even need a prescription!"

Master Tre'jin was swelling up in indignation at Harry's statements and what he was implying, especially so publicly. "We are Jedi!"

Harry frowned in puzzlement and then blinked,. A look of realization shot across his face. "Oh I get it! Right! Jedi would _never_ do that sort of thing!"

He continued to nod agreeably, as if Harry were now talking to someone he considered his best friend, "Don't worry, you can always say its for memory problems… or baldness." He glanced at the Jedi with the large domed forehead mostly barren of hair.

"No one would have to know. Wink wink." Harry said looking eminently pleased with himself that he had just solved their problems. The fact that he actually spoke out the words '_wink wink_' certainly didn't help.

Ahsoka, whose attention had almost never left Harry's during the entire exchanged, couldn't help it as she felt her jaw physically drop in shock at that last statement. There didn't seem to be any rhyme or reason behind what Harry literally spewed from his mouth. She had never seen _anyone_ talk to Jedi like Harry had. He had not only mocked them, but had made fun of them publicly in a way that had passerby's watching with curiosity.

"Who are you?!" Master Mundi finally demanded, getting over his extreme shock. "And… why are you carrying that man?" He asked belatedly.

It was only then, when Master Mundi of all people began to lose composure, did she realize that the Jedi opposite them were now thinking about anything _but_ a surge in the Force they had sensed.

And that had likely been Harry's plan the entire time.

"Harry and I'd say it was nice to meet you. But… I'm not sure it is." Harry responded honestly, then patted the boots of the man that was slung over his shoulder. "And this is my friend. I've taken to calling him Mister Religious, don't ask. Ahsoka here was appalled when she found out what the man has done."

"I don't want to even know what some stodgy old codgers like you would do if you'd heard his crimes." Harry nodded earnestly, "You'd probably fall over and have a heart attack or something… you certainly look old enough to have to worry about the amount of shocks your heart can take."

That seemed to really offend Master Tre'jin who looked back and forth between Harry and the person he carried on his shoulder. "I think… we're going to need to ask you to come with us."

Harry blinked and thought for a second. "Um. Well… you can ask if you want. But I'm going to go ahead and pre-emptively tell you no. Sorry. Though my aunt and uncle would have been so disappointed in me."

Harry turned to Ahsoka, and while his voice was still firmly in the playful tone he had used, she could see his eyes were telling an entirely different story. For some reason, she got the impression Harry wasn't satisfied with the results of his taunting that he was getting.

He continued to speak to her, despite whatever reservations in his approach he was having, "When I was growing up, they always used to encourage me to go with any stranger who offered me candy. They were always so disappointed that no one actually came by with an offer."

He grinned and glanced at the Jedi and Clone troopers, "You don't seem to be offering anything at the moment… but I've learned the hard way not to go anywhere with strange old men especially if they have a bizarre fetish for strange looking robes or sweets."

He looked both of the Masters up and down, "Now I don't know what your relationship with candy is, but considering what you're wearing looks like a combination of a dress and a burlap sack, I'm going to say you both fit at least half the bill."

The clones behind the two Jedi had their faces covered by their armored helmets, but at the moment, it was very clear that all six of them now shook with mirth at the expense of the two Jedi before them.

Harry's pleasant grin turned to mock outrage again as he continued, and Ashoka got the impression he was now clearly enjoying whatever line of thought had suddenly occurred to him, "Though, if you're that quick to attempt things like that with perfect strangers, I can see how a beautiful young woman like Miss Tano would want to leave your Order."

His look turned to one of further outrage. "I certainly wouldn't want to be around old pedophiles like you either. And to think you Jedi have legalized kidnapping of children down to a science. You'd think someone would catch on to what a bunch of old men who take custody of young children and then insist those children refer to them as '_Master_' are really up to."

Harry raked his eyes up the two men and shivered dramatically. "Disgusting."

One of the troopers behind the men suddenly had a racking cough that sounded suspiciously like a cackle of laughter. While the others were all still shaking in mirth. However their mirth did not seem to be shared by the two Jedi in front of them. Master Mundi was staring at Harry with a surprised expression that he tried to cover with a calm visage. The other Master was nearly apoplectic.

"You were given an instruction, civilian. You are carrying an individual who is unconscious or possibly worse who I can see possesses more firearms than he is legally allowed to carry… and er… you are carrying _him._" said Master Tre'jin trailing off at the end realizing he sounded somewhat silly. It didn't stop his hand as it started unobtrusively to lower towards the hilt of his lightsaber as his eyes narrowed at the weapons visible on Harry's unconscious burden.

"I don't know your rude friend, Miss Tano, but I'd hardly think you'd want to risk getting in trouble again, not after you just managed to be cleared of attacking the Jedi Temple." The same Jedi sneered at her.

Before Ahsoka could even formulate a response to the simultaneous insult and baiting of the Jedi Master, Harry had already beaten her to the punch. This time, there was no joking in his tone, and the seriousness which Harry had spoken earlier suddenly made a reappearance, which quickly grabbed everyone's attention and kept them spellbound.

"Ah, already quick to resort to insults and implied threats, and I have yet to hear an actual reason to go with you two gentlemen. I've certainly broken no laws, and to my knowledge, Ahsoka Tano was _proven_ innocent after not only the _incompetence_ but outright _idiocy_ of your Order was widely broadcasted to the entire Galaxy."

His tone even held more than a little bit of irritation with it, and Ahsoka found herself blushing a little bit at the firm defense he had just waged on her behalf. It was rare that someone actually stood up for her in front of Jedi Masters, as in the past it had only really ever been done by SkyGuy and Obi-Wan.

However, the idea of their truthful failings being aired in public seemed to be more than enough for Master Tre'jin, who unclipped his lightsaber and held it in an unspoken threat.

"Put down the man you are carrying. You're all coming with us for further questioning while we get this sorted out." He demanded, his voice flat.

Harry's reply was conversational, and didn't betray anger, or fear. If anything Ahsoka would have guessed it contained amusement. "Under what authority? I have yet to hear you cite a single law that I've broken. I've made absolutely no aggressive moves towards you, and yet here you are threatening me with a deadly weapon."

Harry looked to the clones behind the two Jedi, and his casual tone of conversation never wavered. "I could be wrong, but I swore I read once that Clone Troopers of the Galactic Republic were charged with upholding the laws of the Republic in addition to their duties as soldiers."

"I do believe a Jedi drawing a lightsaber upon a visibly unarmed civilian," he gestured to Ahsoka, "and a bounty hunter moving to a claim station about a mile that way," and he waved nebulously in a direction Ahsoka knew they weren't heading in earlier, "to turn his catch in would be against a few laws."

"After all, The Republic does have a number of laws to prevent authority figures from preventing self-employed individuals such as myself from legally claiming our rewards." Harry replied with a serene smile.

At the term "bounty hunter" a sneer of condescension formed almost simultaneously on both of the Jedi's faces. Master Mundi addressed Ahsoka, "Out of the Jedi Order for a few hours and already hanging with this _scum_? It is sad to see a former padawan fall so far."

Harry made a deliberate act of sniffing the air, and then turned to Ahsoka, "Can you smell the self-righteousness? I know its hard to smell while in the Order, but now that you're out, you'll be able to smell twits like these two from miles away. Besides, neither of you have yet to respond to my accusation of harassment."

He then turned his gaze towards the troopers "Good soldiers of the Republic. I expect you to obey standing orders you have against officers and other ranked members of the military using intimidation against civilians if these two in front of you continue, regardless if they are your superior officers or not."

The Jedi seemed apoplectic at someone with the temerity to order their clones around.

A smirk crossed Master Tre'jin's face. "Unless of course it's a Jedi matter, and I'm designating this Jedi business."

Harry sighed a little bit and turned to face Ahsoka with a combination of humor and irritation in his eyes. There was no more playfulness in his voice though. He seemed tired, and she knew that whatever angle Harry had been going for, he had now given up on it.

"You want to stick around with me or not, kid? Looks like these tossers are going to try blackballing you for having the sheer audacity of not just rolling over and dying when they wanted you to in that trial, then not falling back into line and being a good little soldier when they were humiliated and forced to let you live."

Ahsoka scowled at that statement. She actually hadn't thought that far into leaving the Jedi Order, though truth be told she hadn't thought that they would be so condescending about the matter.

She also hadn't looked at things from the perspective of those in charge of the Order and how they would've viewed her actions, and Harry's interpretation of the events wasn't pleasant or easy to swallow. That also didn't make it any less possible in her mind.

"I'm afraid you're not going anywhere." Master Tre'jin said, and with a snap-hiss he activated his lightsaber. Even Ki-Adi-Mundi seemed shocked at this, as he obviously felt they could intimidate Harry into following their wishes, but actually drawing a weapon against someone who had done nothing was a bit much, even for these troubled times.

Ahsoka looked at the lightsaber in surprise, and then resignation, realizing she was going to be seeing the inside of a cell again. "Doesn't look like we're going anywhere…"

Harry paused for a moment then nodded and grinned at her apparently taking that for agreement. "Close enough for me."

He put his hand on Ahsoka's shoulder and looked at the Jedi defiantly. "I refuse to recognize your self-granted authority in this matter. I know the laws of this planet, and you have overstepped them so badly its not even funny.

"Though I'm actually quite pleased to see the Clone Troopers behind you having the sense to not draw their weapons on civilians causing no harm. In light of that, I most certainly will not be going with you."

"You act like you have a choice." Master Tre'jin shot back, ignoring most of what was said in irritation with the defiance and lack of deference shown by the man, it reminded him far too much of Anakin.

Master Ki-Adi-Mundi however responded to Harry's statement like a threat, his own lightsaber in his hand, though it wasn't lit yet, mainly because he had glanced behind him and noticed the Clone Troopers were no longer laughing but were instead standing at attention while shifts of their helmets made it clear they were looking at one another.

Harry grinned and actually winked at the Jedi Masters. "You'd be surprised what choices there are actually…"

Without another word he apparated, without making any attempt at all to hide the sound, infact overpowering it slightly to increase the sound. Feeling slightly theatrical he added a bright flash of light to go at the same time.

The resulting "crack" was quite loud and combined with the bright flash of light that left behind 6 shocked soldiers and two shocked Jedi Masters, as well as several bystanders with some temporary flash blindness.

**-o0o0o-**

**Author's Notes!**

**(Kat) **Holy shit. I'm alive…

I know right? I hope you like this story. All those people wondering what I'm doing for writing. I'm going to school and still working on the other stories. But this story grabbed my muse and drug her kicking and screaming until I got a portion of it down. Do not ask me about when I'm updating my other two stories!

Anyway, this story came to me after I started watching random AMV playlists on youtube and was struck by several clips of The Clone Wars series. I didn't really know a majority of the series (Still don't!) But a very emotional scene done by Ahsoka while she's fleeing from authorities got me interested. Then the separation between Anakin and Ahsoka was really well done.

**(Plums) **\- she was like "wtf - Ahsoka gets kicked outta the Jedi Order?". And I was like, yeah….Clone Wars Animated series went bugtastic silly stupid at the end, and that was one of the dumb things they did. Something I was planning on completely ignoring in my own Star Wars story.

**(Kat) **Regular association with Plums allowed me to throw this idea at him, and as always he was his super-encouraging self. I loved his Last Second Savior story (Seriously. Go check that shit out. Right now. I'll wait.) And admittedly the idea for the story germinated with his story only I took it in a rapidly different direction. He totally approves and is collaborating on it.

**(Plums) - **Kat got heavily distracted since around the beginning of October with this desire to write her own Star Wars multi story. This was after her own false starts with HP Crossovers with BtVS, Twilight, DC Villains, Mass Effect, and a few original HP Stories.

**(Kat) -** Not false starts, I have several outlines in the works! ADD at it's finest folks!

**(Plums) -** One day, I login after work and check our shared Google Doc space, and find 2 chapters written for this odd concept of a supremely confident yet emotionally damaged Harry, running around making Jedi looking like fools while staring at boobies in the star wars universe…

She knows my tastes so well, eh?

At this point, we have ten full chapters of this written and fairly well edited, but I have no real clue as to her upload schedule since this will be posted to her own account. This story will share few if any of the plot points of my own LSS story (which is languishing in limbo as I attempt to fix a plot point which has frustrated me literally since the beginning of last year).

So, enjoy the show. She has some very good long-term ideas / plot points for this, and I just hope we can deliver them all to you without getting lost along the way.

As well as gratuitous showings of blue twi'leks…

**Alternative chapter titles-**

Those who shot the hot bartender deserve whatever happens to them. - Harry Potter. (and Plums)

How Following a Random Pervert I Met in a Bar is a Good Idea- Ahsoka Tano

A Comprehensive Treatise on How to Look like Pricks - The Jedi Order

I Just Know My Saving People Thing is Going to Bite Me in The Ass... Again. - also Harry Potter.


	2. An Altered Destiny

**Chapter 2**

**An Altered Destiny**

Jedi Master Ki-Adi-Mundi stood in shock at the empty space where three people had once stood. Even for the few bystanders looking on, who viewed the exchange with fear more than anything else, it was an amazing sight. It had seemed, like the three people just twisted slightly and disappeared with a pop and a flash of light. To the Jedi though, it had been a nearly blinding pulse of the force.

"We should have expected this from her!" spat Master Tre'jin as he looked around, his head moving quickly in an attempt to spot them.

"What, walking around with a Force wielding Bounty hunter that can literally play with the minds of Masters? You must be far stronger in the Force than I to have predicted that." Mundi shook his head, still unable to look away from the spot where Ahsoka and the stranger had disappeared. Sure that he could focus his sight through the illusion.

"Don't be a fool. I meant that Skywalker's precious padawan causing trouble every time we turn around. It's obvious he is incapable of instructing someone properly." Tre'jin glanced at his fellow master with more than a touch of disdain.

"Stretch out your senses, if you are right they can't have gone far." Mundi said with a small calm smile, as he realized that he could already feel a distinct lack of Ahsoka's presence. He couldn't feel her anywhere close by, certainly not within a few miles.

Tre'jin stretched out his own senses, and reached into the Force to search for the two. Even at top running speed, enhanced through use of the Force, the two couldn't have been more than a few hundred meters away, especially since one of them was weighed down. Much to Tre'jin's dismay though, he could feel nothing. Master Tre'jin couldn't help but grind his teeth in frustration, the situation had gone from bad to miserable in seconds. He didn't want to think about how this was going to affect the future.

Ahsoka Tano was gone, and now they had a squad of Clone Troopers looking agitated and fidgety, with fingers dancing over the triggers of their blaster rifles.

Loud noises and bright flashes tended to have that effect on soldiers.

"Look around, see if they're still here." Commander Jet spoke in a tone that forced his men to reign in their fears. He knew he definitely was going to be expected to report this, though assumed it would just be round filed for the future.

Master Mundi nodded to his friend and colleague, then turned towards the surrounding buildings and the civilians who were already beginning to move about their business. Sometimes working in the less reputable parts of Coruscant had some advantages.

"Let's check around for more information, someone has to know who that bounty hunter is." Mundi spoke with a bit more calm than his partner, but he too didn't like how things had played out. Deep in his gut he feared that young Tano had fallen into the clutches of someone with questionable, and potentially evil motives.

"Fine." Tre'jin muttered as he turned towards the Clone Troopers and motioned for them to set out to canvass the area. He was quite certain this was going to come back to bite him in the ass.

**oOooOoOOoOooOo**

Ahsoka Tano was going through the most disorienting sensation, an assault on her senses, perhaps more powerful than any she had experienced in her entire life. One moment she was standing there with a near stranger, albeit one who had possibly saved her life, and healed another person far more than she ever imagined possible.

She had been confronted by two Masters and found herself thinking the Jedi were once more being unilateral and unfair in their treatment and that she was about to end up detained for "questioning" once more.

Then in another moment she was completely awash in the Force, as it squeezed and pushed against her. It was unlike anything she ever experienced or imagined. It seemed to stretch on forever, but in reality ended only a few moments later.

Whatever had happened had completely messed up her echolocation ability, and made it go haywire for several seconds. Much like a bat who had been blasted with a pitched sound, it left her incredibly disoriented, causing her to fall to the ground in an undignified heap due to dizziness. It was like the world around her completely changed in an instant.

Harry however seemed to be utterly comfortable as he landed, staggering only a little bit because of the unfamiliar balance of the body unconscious over his shoulder.

He straightened up and chuckled, looking down at Ahsoka, "Well that was fun." Harry observed dryly.

Ahsoka sat up weakly, looking queasy and barely restraining the urge to throw up everything in her stomach. She took several deep breaths and managed to prevent puking, as well as blinking several times to adjust to her surroundings.

She found herself sitting on the hard concrete floor of a hanger. It was a medium sized hangar, but was empty of everything but Harry and and a freighter. However, what was most noticeable was the freighter in front of her painted a brilliant red and gold.

"Where are we? Whose ship is that?" She asked blearily, still looking around.

"We're at my ship, The Gryffindor. And this is a pay by the day hangar." Harry said gesturing grandly.

Ahsoka had to blink twice to take in that comment. As far as she knew there were no pay by day hangars within maybe 500 kilometers of where she had been. They were very nearly at the center of the planet's many activities. Within a dozen kilometers, they had the Grand Jedi Temple, the Senate Building, the recently constructed Military Headquarters, as well as the corporate headquarters of over 100 different galactic corporations.

However, any of the ships landing in the area were for large commercial vessels, large military vessels or ships privately owned by the innumerable governments with representatives on Coruscant. Each race and world requiring their own access and needs met, and all ridiculously expensive and overpriced.

Of course those were the upper levels of the area. The lower levels still had shops and bars that served all those "regular" folks who managed to actually keep things running above.

There certainly wasn't pay by day docking bay nearby.

Ahsoka was slowly coming to the realization what all of it meant. They had traveled from one place to another, seemingly using the Force as a conduit. It was unheard of, unprecedented and by everything she had ever been told, it was completely impossible. However, before she could managed to form any of the dozens of competing questions in her mind, Harry had already headed toward the ship.

Her mind idly took stock, with the brilliant gold and red paint job, it certainly stood out, and given the fact that she couldn't detect the slightest bit of chips or peeling in the paint job she would have said it was a brand new ship. She idly noted that it was a Gymsnor-3 Light Freighter.

Her eyes flitted over the freighter with an experienced eye. The technical skills from being in close proximity to SkyGuy managed to rub off on anyone started to scream that although the pair of turbolaser canons on the forward underside of the ship had clearly been upgraded and looked like they meant business. This ship in front of them still looked like it needed major upgrades to be worthy of SkyGuy's needs of speed, destruction, and mayhem.

Then she realized she wasn't with Skywalker anymore. Yet somehow she didn't get the impression that this Harry was somehow more reserved and calm than her old Master had been at any point.

Harry wasn't paying any attention to Ahsoka's evaluative looks as he entered the ramp to the Gryffindor, though Ahsoka regained her bearings enough to quickstep after him and follow him up the ramp into the hold of the boldly colored ship. As she stepped through the threshold of the ship, she felt a wash of the Force go over her and looked around trying to determine the source.

Harry unceremoniously plopped the weight of the still unconscious man onto the ground in front of him, before turning around and seeming to realize that Ahsoka had followed him up the ramp and into his ship, though she still seemed to be a state of shock. She was also reaching out with the Force trying to determine why she felt surrounded by it, though not in a bad way.

Harry winced a little bit as he looked at her. With her extending her senses out, she was practically shouting her thoughts and emotions to him, and her confused emotional state didn't help. "Please… try and stop broadcasting your presence so loudly if you can. We're a fair distance from those idiots, but lets take no chances of them hunting you down before we leave the system."

Ahsoka frowned and looked at him in confusion. "Broadcasting my presence?" She echoed with confusion, never having heard that term before.

Harry nodded a little bit but any reply he would have made was cut off by soft clinking steps and the humming of servo-motors as a droid walked into view. Ahsoka recognized the droid from the image on Harry's holocom and was happy to see that her initial perceptions were accurate.

It resembled a protocol droid with odd projections over the eyes, like it was wearing a welded on hat. It too was colored dark grey almost uniformly. She also noted that her observation about it seeming bulkier was accurate and that unlike normal protocol droids there was no exposed wires, every part of it was encased. She hadn't seen a model like it before though she was hardly an expert on all droids out there.

Harry had looked up and smiled slightly, "Hey Minnie, please tell me you at least caught that whole debacle with the Jedi on a holo."

"Of course," The matronly voice responded primly. "Caught and logged. You had your arm up holding your guest, and positioned perfectly to catch and record everything, both audio and visual... at least of them. A picture of you or your companion was not recorded." The droid sounded a little miffed at being doubted.

"Great, maybe we'll be nice and just send a copy of it over to the Jedi Temple, rather than any news media in the directory. I'm none too pleased with how they acted, but pouring fuel onto a media fire might not be the best idea ever. Knowing someone caught them on holo should at least cause them to think twice." Harry mused.

He turned back to Ahsoka who appeared still a bit dazed; and an amused smile crossed his face before it faded somewhat and turned into a self-conscious and abashed expression. As humorous as her reactions might have been, he hadn't really planned on this and felt a wave of sympathy for her. "Hey, you alright?"

The kind and concerned voice directed at Ahsoka seemed to gather her attention back to him. When she didn't respond he continued. "Sorry about… sorta… kinda… kidnapping you there. I can always take you back if you want." He offered, running a hand through his hair somewhat sheepishly.

That finally seemed to be the impetus required to snap Ahsoka out of her silence that the rapid shocks had uncharacteristically put into her, and immediately questions began to bubble out of her.

The words tumbled out of her in a combination of shock and genuine interest. "Who are you? WHAT are you? Where are we? What was THAT!? How... is this possible?!" She waved her arms slightly, indicating the feeling of the Force she was sensing around her.

Harry blinked a bit and then laughed, cut her off before more questions could come out as a fond smile crossed his face. "That's the second time you reminded me of one of the best friends I ever had..." he mused with a fond if somewhat wistful smile on his face. Before he focused on Ahsoka once more. "Well, my name is Harry, as for the rest…"

He furrowed his brow as he considered how to answer that. "The rest were just some basic skills I picked up a very long time ago." He stared off into space a second before the wistful smile was back on his face. "Well, long before you were born."

He gave her a lopsided grin, but she could tell there was some sadness behind the forced mirth, "Some would call it the final legacy of a misspent youth. Others would just call it part of who I am."

He shook off his sudden reflective mood and then gestured for her to follow him. "C'mon, let's make Mr. Religious Fornicator there more comfortable for the few moments he's still with us, then we can talk a little bit." He reached down and gripped the unconscious man and hefted him up by the back of his belt and half carried and half dragged him in towards the cargo hold of the ship.

Ahsoka followed him, and watched as he tossed the man in what was obviously a small cell… or a cupboard, she wasn't sure which. He pressed a button and the door slid shut with a soft hiss of pressure. The rest of the cargo hold was surprisingly empty, no sign of freight or anything. Instead she noted in one corner there was several tables together with several datapads, along with several open books all around an easy chair.

A chair which Harry sank into with a bit of a pleasant sigh before his pleased expression faded and his emerald eyes focused on Ahsoka with an intensity that made her shiver. After several seconds in which he stared at her, Ahsoka felt he was reading her very soul. In a way she felt that sometimes Master Yoda or Skywalker could, only… this was far more intense.

"Now, why don't you tell me just what kind of trouble you're really in?" Harry finally said bluntly.

"I'm… not in any trouble!" She protested, "They just caught me by surprise is all."

Ahsoka frowned a little bit as doubt crept in. She was here with a self-admitted bounty hunter, one who was a Force-user no less. And it had just been loudly announced that the bounty on her was worth several hundred thousand credits. That would be enough to tempt almost anyone. She should have been more than a little concerned with her self preservation instincts going wild, telling her to get as far away from any bounty hunters as she could.

She shook herself out of those thoughts. While he had brought her here without her permission, which was as he described, technically kidnapping. She was more concerned with figuring out _how_ rather than the fact that he had done so. It also helped that he didn't seem to intend any nefarious purpose or seem to be acting overtly secretive at the moment. Besides, she had been the one to follow him out of the bar when he left, he hadn't dragged her out with him.

But most of all, she just didn't feel like he intended to hurt her. In fact her instincts were telling her the opposite.

Harry's expression was one of disbelief, "Mister Religious Fornicator in there thought you'd fetch him some good money." he cocked his thumb over his shoulder pointing behind him toward the cell. "Now, some bounty hunters may be stupid, but they're rarely wrong about how much money a target is going to bring in. And it wasn't Jedi in general he was talking about, it was _you_ specifically."

Ahsoka deflated and sighed a little bit, "Yeah… I didn't think about that either…" She crossed her arms over her chest and looked down, not meeting Harry's eyes. "I've been a part of the war for the past two years. My Master and I were pretty active in it. Not just active in it… but fairly prominent. We've ruffled more than our share of feathers even on species that don't have them." She smiled weakly finally looking back up to see Harry's expression as her joke fell a bit flat.

Harry however didn't seem to disbelieve her. He was merely looking thoughtful and nodded a bit, no sign of judgement on his face. "You said that you weren't a Jedi anymore, and those Jedi we ran into definitely seemed less than pleased with you."

Ahsoka sighed a little bit and, seeing no other convenient furniture shifted and sat down on the edge of a table that had books scattered on it. "I told you earlier, about my recent troubles."

When Harry nodded and smiled self-deprecatingly, "I heard something about it when I landed, I tend to ignore the news unless Minnie mentions there might be something of interest." a look of guilt flashing across his face. He had made the flippant jokes to the Jedi about the situation at their expense, without concern for Ahsoka's thoughts on the matter.

Ahsoka nodded, she wasn't surprised, given how many higher ups in the military, government and Order were involved, it was entirely unsurprisingly. Still, she felt she had a bit of explaining to do. "Well… any Jedi is free to leave the Order at any time. The Order is just not real… keen on it." Ahsoka frowned, trying to figure out a way to put it best.

"My former Master didn't want me to go, but he understood my decision because I'm sure it's one he's wrestled with more than once. So few people actually do it though… I don't think some of the others in the Order were as accepting." Ahsoka frowned a bit and her tone turned defensive, "Their utter lack of trust in me just… it got to me, and I couldn't stay there. I didn't think the consequences through, that I was giving up everything I knew."

Harry raised an eyebrow, and kept his tone mild as he considered what she said. "So… then your troubles are going to get worse." It was a statement more than a question.

Ahsoka's puzzled expression in response to the statement caused Harry to sigh.

"Well, you've left the Order, once that fact gets out… something that has quite obviously already happened. People are going to realize that means you no longer have their support… or protection." Harry reasoned out as he regarded her expression thoughtfully.

Ahsoka looked at him blankly for a moment before her eyes widened in realization. Her voice was hesitant as she worked to deal with the enormity of what she was figuring out "So… people that might not have come after me before, because they didn't want to risk taking on the Order would come after me now… like a lot of bounty hunters." She trailed off as she glanced past Harry toward the door he had sealed the bounty hunter behind.

Harry nodded looking pleased at her sharp mind. "Precisely."

Ahsoka looked back to Harry. "But I've made friends and allies the past few years… helping people. They could help me." Even saying the words implying she would need to rely on the others bothered her independent side.

"Friends and allies that would support you and risk alienating the Jedi High Council for aid they may need at some point in the future?" Harry asked mildly, his tone curious rather than argumentative.

"Yes!" Ahsoka nodded firmly and then she hesitated, "Some of them… a few… maybe…" Her voice sounded increasingly disconsolate as she really considered the question and thought about any allies that would help. The only allies she thought who might do it would be people she would definitely rather _not_ be indebted to.

Finally she looked up at Harry dejectedly, though despite the slight sense of despair she was still thinking over her predicament. "I wonder if so few people leave the Order because it usually means they're utterly without support. I mean… with a few notable exceptions they can't even really count on family to fall back on. Most Jedi don't remember their family… if they do it's hazy. Part of having no attachments."

She briefly considered the other few she knew that had left the Jedi Order. A handful of those who had voluntarily exiled themselves without ever revealing a reason. Others who chose other… darker paths to follow. Dooku sprung immediately to her mind. He had gone back to his home planet of Serenno and took his hereditary position as Count. He was one of the Lost Twenty. One of twenty Jedi Masters who throughout the recorded history of the Jedi Order, had left it because of ideological differences.

The number of those who left was higher for those who had achieved the rank of Jedi Knight, Ahsoka herself could remember four or five that had left, during her time but it was still enough of an event to be noted.

"I'm well aware of the Jedi policy of taking students from families when they're found to be 'Force sensitive.'" Harry replied after considering her words, his tone a touch irritated.

"I was one of those kids, I was found by Master Plo Koon." Ahsoka interjected defensively. "He brought me back to the temple and it's where I've spent my life."

Harry tilted his head, "And what of those parents who don't wish for their child to be taken? They're just left alone?"

Ahsoka looked taken aback at that insinuation, "Of course! We would never forcibly take someone from their home."

Harry merely tilted his head curiously in response but didn't push it any farther because he didn't want to be accusing wildly. He did not like the Jedi Order, but out of his laundry list of complaints that was rather far down. Nor was it really the focus at the moment.

Ahsoka shook off her thoughts on that particular comment, knowing they would come back later when she had a quiet moment to consider them. "Who… are you?"

Harry smiled in bemusement before chuckling a bit. "As I said, my name is Harry. Harry Potter."

"That's not what I meant." She replied, narrowing her eyes "I meant…. _who_ are you?" an expression of frustration crossed her face as she realized she had just repeated herself and didn't have any way to better ask the question on what she actually meant.

"I've had lots of titles. Some pleasant, many not so much. I'm sure you have some hypotheses. Why don't you tell me what you think?" He asked, an interested expression on his face, curious to find out what she thought, and using one of his favorite methods of getting people to put their thoughts in order.

Ahsoka narrowed her eyes at the evasion, but Harry held up his hands, warding off her retort. "Indulge me. I'm honestly curious."

She hesitated a moment before nodding slightly, chewing on her bottom lip a moment while she put her thoughts in order. "You have used the Force several times. That sleight of hand with that black dust in the bar, knocking those guys out. But… the healing you did was beyond anything I've seen. I don't think even Master Shaak Ti, or Master Stass Allie or…"

Ahsoka trailed off as she felt a pang of bitterness, almost mentioning the former friend who had betrayed her, before she picked up her thought. "I don't think even the best Jedi healers could have helped her."

"I have no idea how you did that… trick to bring us here. That was like nothing I ever felt before, and one moment we were there, and the next we were here. It was either some bizarre mind trick, or you… somehow... teleported us. Both of which are equally as mind boggling." She shook her head and took a breath.

"I think you're a Jedi… or rather a former Jedi. Though you were never a Jedi Master because then everyone would recognize you. Only twenty of those have ever left the Jedi Order. However given how you seem feel about the Order, and what you said to those Masters I'd say you weren't happy when you did leave. That's why you're now… a bounty hunter." She summarized with a slight nod at her deductions.

"Oh… and you used the Force to open up that box at the bar too." She interjected quickly when she saw Harry prepared to reply.

"Observant little one, aren't you?" He commented with a soft chuckle, betraying his amusement. "Well, first off. I'm not a Jedi. Never have been, and short of giving myself a full frontal lobotomy, with a hydrospanner in Zero-gravity, while intoxicated, and under enemy fire, will never be a Jedi. They're far too limited."

Ahsoka looked surprised at that last statement, "Limited, what do you mean? In what way are they limited?"

Harry chuckled again, and grinned. "I'll get to that in a bit. Might as well hit all your observations first. You're right about me being not happy with the Jedi Order."

"Once I heard about them, I did some looking into them, and was not really impressed by much besides the fact that they still somehow exist. I'm not impressed with their policies, their beliefs, or usually how they conduct themselves." He shook his head a little bit in disgust, "I've encountered more than one of them in my travels. Saved more than one, though they remain blissfully ignorant of that fact. I've yet to be overly impressed, save by their extreme need to martyr themselves."

Harry shook his head as a wry smile graced his face. "Worse than even a pack of Gryffindors."

Before Ahsoka could ask what that comment meant Harry pressed on.

"As for the bounty hunter part… well, technically you're right about that since I pay my dues and all that so I can say I am. But I only occasionally turn in bounties, usually when they irritate me, or fall into my lap like our religious guest." Harry shrugged with a gesture in the direction of the cell.

"Truthfully, a lot of planets tend to look the other way when it involves someone with a bounty hunting licence. It is also convenient for ignoring a lot of rules and laws and such when the need suits me. They assume whoever I'm there to pick up is likely to rid them of a problem. And if I'm in some out of the way location and confronted by authorities, usually saying that I'm a bounty hunter following a lead, avoids arguments."

Harry shook his head, "That being said, I would never consider it to be my primary profession of choice. It just gets me more rights than 'eccentric and mysterious historian" tend to get."

"So… what are you?" Ahsoka asked with a puzzled expression on her face, her tone making it clear she wasn't just asking for an occupation or something.

Harry laughed softly, despite a slightly sheepish look on his face. "Talk about a loaded question. Um. I don't know that there's a word for what I am. I sorta fell into what I do by accident."

"I explore, I look through histories or historical sites." He shrugged lithely, knowing there really wasn't a cut and dry word for what he was. "I keep an eye out for things and travel a lot. While I'm doing this, I take on odd jobs. Sometimes for money, sometimes for fun."

"Sometimes because he is bored." disapproving voice of Minnie spoke as the droid walked up with a whirling of servomotors.

Harry rolled his eyes to look at the droid, "Problem Minnie?"

"No Mister Potter, I have the holo clip ready to transmit to the Jedi Temple. I just thought it might be wise to prepare to leave before any restrictions regarding our movement might be imposed." The droid explained.

"It's very likely they will track the transmission of the events here, and attempt to prevent us from receiving clearance for departure." The droid finished factually.

Harry nodded and ran a hand over his face. "And Coruscant is not a planet where you can simply kick in the sublight engines and leave. Well, we probably _could,_ I'm just not sure that I want to make that big of an impact." He seemed to consider it for a moment before nodding, "Okay Minnie, we're not leaving this second but start prep for take off."

"All right, Mister Potter. I will let Dobby know." The droid said as it turned to walk away.

"Don't bother. I'm sure the bugger is listening in." Harry muttered as the droid walked off.

Ahsoka was still regarding him cautiously, though stopped at outright suspicion. When Harry turned to regard her once more, she took her chance to ask "So you're not a Jedi, and never have been. But I've seen you use the Force, so what are you?"

She bit her tongue to keep from asking the followup question, almost asking him if he was Sith, but managed to stop herself in time. She was aware there were more Force users out there in the galaxy besides just Jedi and Sith, though they tended to be deeply religious sects of one sort or another.

She'd encountered a few in just the past few years. The problem was, most of them were only passably neutral with the Jedi. Many of them were in direct opposition to the Jedi, and had actually been hunted down by the Jedi and all information about them destroyed, since so many of their ideologies closely aligned with the Sith.

Harry grinned, clearly amused once more. "I'm a wizard."

"A…. wizard." Ahsoka repeated dryly.

Harry was enjoying himself. He did enjoy the doubt on her face. It had been a long time since he'd outright talked about himself and being so open with another living being was strangely liberating. Ahsoka's attention was caught now, as she was looking at him with a combination of pity and scorn.

"I'm not a 'Force User' Miss Tano." Harry clarified. "I use Magic." He gestured at the floor in front of him and a chair popped into existence right in front of where Ahsoka sat on the edge of a table.

Ahsoka gasped and jumped backward at the sudden appearance of the chair, unfortunately, as she was leaning against a table at the time of the conjuration, she quite literally tumbled backward over it and sprawled onto the floor, her limbs askew.

She scrambled around and righted herself after a moment and peered over the table at the chair. Seeing it was still there, she hesitantly came around the table, stepping over the books she had knocked down. She was glancing back and forth between Harry whose expression was calm and curious, and the chair he conjured. She moved over to lightly hesitantly reach out and touch the chair to verify that it actually was there.

It was completely solid.

When she glanced up at Harry in disbelief, she saw an infinitely amused expression on his face.

"Take your time. We're in no rush. We have to still turn in that bounty and Minnie's getting the ship ready to launch." Harry said, though a bit of a wistful expression was crossing his face as he recalled his first interaction with magic.

Ahsoka was running her hands over the chair, squeezing it and turning it a bit, as if trying to figure out the trick. She finally turned and moved to sit in it, as if that was the ultimate barometer when she glanced at Harry uncertainly.

"Go ahead, I want you to fully understand and accept that the chair in front of you is real, and wasn't there a second ago." Harry encouraged.

Ahsoka slowly sat down and blinked as she found a comfortable chair that completely supported her weight. She was still shocked. She had walked through this space so it wasn't like he removed an illusion. She was actually sitting in a chair that hadn't existed earlier. There was no illusion. It was not a Jedi Mind trick, nor was it a hardlight hologram or a projection.

"How did you do that?!" She finally half asked, and half demanded incredulously.

Harry grinned and laughed, surprised to find that he was truly enjoying himself. "Magic." He replied.

"But… I _felt _you do that in the Force." Ahsoka replied.

Harry nodded a little bit. "You did, I'm really not surprised. If you're being truly technical about it, they're essentially the same thing… but my people's understanding and uses of Magic is far different from the norm throughout this galaxy."

"But, _Magic_?" Ahsoka repeated, unable to keep the doubt out of her voice.

"Yes, I'm well aware that your Jedi Council views all those societies who view "magic users" and possess self-proclaimed witches and wizards as backwater, primitive, and do their best to 'educate' them otherwise." Harry said with a trace of scorn in his own voice. "Heaven forbid people be allowed to believe what they _want _to believe."

He shook his head, "I won't deny the people of my world could, at times, be described as terribly primitive. In terms of technological levels, before I left, the non-magic users were _centuries_ behind even the most basic spacefaring users that are found throughout this galaxy."

Harry gestured at the chair Ahsoka was sitting in. "But in the use of Magic? We were _easily_ centuries… if not millennia ahead of anything I've seen since I've arrived here. No matter what culture or place that I've visited."

Ahsoka frowned. "I've never heard of anyone try and measure the evolution of a society or group's use of the Force, it all seems to be by hyperspace speeds. In fact, I doubt the idea to do so would ever occur to most Jedi I know." Her tone was puzzled and thoughtful.

"Well, that's one thing that's noticeable different about how Force users approach things than the people of my world." Harry replied, his speech taking on a slightly lecturing tone. "I can't entirely be certain, but I believe there are a number of reasons for that."

At Ahsoka's curious expression, Harry didn't hesitate at expanding on his point. "First, based on the History I've read, the Jedi have had at least five instances over the last seven thousand years where your entire order has been brought to damned near the brink of extinction. And if you read between the lines the number is probably higher if not for pure luck."

Harry's tone became more emphatic as he spoke on the topic. "Each time, knowledge was lost left right and center from each of those previous incarnations of your Order, or worse, not just lost but deliberately forbidden because "Oh this became a danger once, despite using it for the past thousand years, so… let's make it forbidden because we're weak-willed idiots."

"Each time, entire branches of research and techniques into 'the Force' were completely lost. So any hope of progress or development was stopped in it's tracks." Harry shook his head in disgust.

His eyes focused on her once more. "I've looked a little bit into how Jedi are trained. And… it rather disappoints me."

"What do you mean?" Ahsoka asked with a puzzled expression.

"Most of what you're taught is simply philosophy, relevant to the particular group you serve, and really has no basis when it comes to you using Magic… or the Force or whatever you wanna call it." Harry said.

Seeing Ahsoka's confused expression turn to protest, Harry expanded his explanation slightly. "What I'm talking about simply is the ethics that your specific Orders, be it Jedi or Sith, expect you to follow."

"Truthfully, the bad… or 'loaded' words I'd use to describe that process are indoctrination or brain-washing; each group does to its initiates to ensure they behave a certain way." Harry said calmly, expecting a response. He was not disappointed.

"The Jedi Order does not indoctrinate or brainwash it's padawans! The Sith are the ones that do that!" Ahsoka protested, her entire body tensing. If he hadn't lumped the Sith in there with the Jedi Ahsoka would be a lot more nervous, wondering if she had stumbled across a Sith.

Harry looked calm despite her outburst, and merely questioned quietly, his tone honestly curious. "Really? Would you mind a few questions then? And if I've understood wrong, I will apologize."

Ahsoka shook her head, Harry's calmness despite the sensitivity of the topic was putting her more at ease. Still, Harry sounded far too confident in the results of his questioning for her to relax completely "Okay, go ahead."

"In your training, how much time did you focus on using 'the Force' and were you ever encouraged to explore new ways to use it?" Harry inquired.

"We spent a great deal of time learning to feel the Force, and learning how it could guide us. But… almost no time exploring new ways to use it." Ahsoka replied after a moment's thought.

"I want you to think about this for a second before you answer. Think and consider. How much of your training involved being reminded of how to act? How to think? How to not feel your emotions?" Harry asked quietly.

That question hung in the air as Ahsoka thought about it. Her response was on the tip of her tongue before she stopped and considered it. Her master hadn't harped so much on those lessons, but when she was a youngling, those had been the focus of the lessons, and she was well aware other initiates and padawans had more strict Masters who focused far more on those lessons.

In a small voice she replied. "I've heard it differs from Master to Master… and my master was a bit… different."

At Harry's curious expression, Ahsoka expanded slightly, a little nervously. "Master Skywalker wasn't constantly reminding me that I shouldn't have emotions, that I was in danger of going dark. He was far more… passionate than any Jedi I've ever met."

"And how did other Jedi respond to that?" Harry immediately asked.

Ahsoka flinched slightly, knowing that other Masters at times had expressed displeasure with him. "There were some people that were unhappy with it."

Harry nodded, not needing her to expand "But that doesn't answer my question. How often was the lesson all about the feeling at peace and then whatever other mumbo jumbo they've tacked on as doctrine?"

Ahsoka hesitated before conceding, "A lot of the time, most of the starting training like that… even after we're taken as padawans, a lot of Masters make sure it is in every conversation, much less every lesson."

Harry nodded, "From what I understand Sith are the same way, very similar training, at least historically. Only they seem to indoctrinate students to use hatred instead of always being calm. Similar methods, albeit opposite sides of the coins."

He didn't give her time to protest or mull that point over before gesturing around, "How often did you explore what the "Force" was capable of?" And I'm not talking about meditating or whatever it is you Jedi do when you just sit there pondering mysteries. To me it seems like you're just a few bottles of sherry, coke bottle glasses and some bad smelling incense short of turning into my old divination teacher."

"I… don't understand what you're asking." Ahsoka frowned, in fact only half of what he had said even sounded like terms she understood, much less made sense in any coherent fashion.

Harry frowned, "Ok, as examples. You said that healing on the bartender was far more than the Jedi Healers would be capable of. You never imagined that "teleporting" was possible. You even think the chair you're sitting in is impossible." Harry's voice seemed to fill with pity. "To me that's a sad thing. There are no limits to what Magic can do."

Seeing that Ahsoka was listening with rapt attention, Harry gestured with a hand and the books lying on the floor hopped back on the table almost offhandedly. "That 'teleport'? That was called apparition. It was common on my world. The first time I did it was on accident, at the age of seven to escape some bullies chasing me at school."

"It was so common in fact that almost everyone could do it. At age seventeen, after receiving instruction by Ministry approved instructors, all magicals could take a test and got a license for doing it. It really isn't that hard." Harry chuckled a little bit and shook his head.

"There's so much you can do with magic. From the mundane…" he gestured at Ahsoka and suddenly her entire body, clothes and all, was a bright purple. Her eyes widened slightly as she felt the Force move around her entire body. It took her a moment to realize what happened as she looked down, letting out a little squeak of surprise. Harry smirked for a moment before gesturing and returning her clothes and skin to their normal color.

"To the more complicated." He gestured to the chair she was sitting.

"How do your people learn such things?" Ahsoka asked

"They start going to school at the age of eleven. It gets them started with all the basics." Harry replied with a shrug. "Prior to that, its generally considered… bad, to begin actual instruction that uses magic. People have long believed that active use of magic prior to the age of eleven, actually damages your ability to use it."

"Though that seems to be a bit of a crapshoot. On some people it makes them less powerful and limits their control and potential later in life. On others it seems to magnify their power and control." Harry shrugged a bit. He had seen evidence pointing both ways before.

"But yes, at age eleven we started school. In my own country, school was seven years long, with major exams at the end of the 5th and 7th year, with stupid acronyms, which were what you were 'judged' upon when we went out into the wide world looking for careers." Harry frowned as a thought occurred to him, "We had electives starting in our 3rd year as well, as some people's interests were vastly different than others."

Their conversation was interrupted by the whining of servomotors as the droid Minnie once more approached, "Dobby says the ship is prepped for take off Mr. Potter, and departure clearance has been received."

Harry expression reflected surprise, as he realized that time had passed. "Alright Minnie, I'll be right there."

He turned to Ahsoka and seemed to hesitate. "Well, looks like our evening is at an end. You are free to disembark here if you like… or is there anywhere you're headed? We can drop you off anywhere in the direction of…." he trailed off and looked at Minnie.

"Nar Shaddaa" the droid supplied helpfully.

Harry nodded, looking unsurprised, as if the droid had merely refreshed his memory. "Ah, Nar Shaddaa." He breathed deeply and smiled with mock grin, "I can almost smell the pungent fumes of hundreds of millions of unwashed gangsters, smugglers, prostitutes and other life forms from here."

"Minnie, what do you think the odds are of me going there and managing not to end up causing some sort of trouble?" Harry inquired thoughtfully of the droid.

The droid hesitated and the lights in it's eyes flickered as if processing the information, "Are we planning on landing?"

Harry nodded.

"Non-existent." The droid said shortly before turning away to trundle away.

Harry sighed and looked vaguely wounded. "No faith."

"Hardly that Mr. Potter." The droid paused. "I simply calculated the number of times you can't resist getting into some mischief and divided by the number of planets, moons and space stations we have landed on. That number nearly equals 1. "

Harry rolled his eyes, though didn't argue with the droid before turning his attention back to Ahsoka. He found her expression curious.

Ahsoka was staring at him with a look of deep concentration on her face. She had left the Order with no idea of where she was headed next. Her entire world had been turned on a dime in the past two weeks from the accusations, expulsion, trial, offer to return, and the turning down of that offer.

She literally had nothing to her name but the clothes on her back, and the offer from this perfect stranger for a free lift to anywhere on the way to where he was going, which was one of the seediest places in the entire galaxy

Occasionally in the past, Ahsoka had received directions on her larger actions from the force. Sometimes she heeded it and other times she didn't, or at least at times she misinterpreted it. However in this moment she had never felt an urging from the force like she was now.

For just a moment she had thought perhaps it was coming from Harry, but after a moment's contemplation she realized that it was coming from within herself. It was as if the Force was urging her, and not just urging, her but practically pushing her.

Somehow Ahsoka suddenly knew that this might be the most important decision of her life, and a prelude to the most important thing she would ever do. Not just for herself but for the...galaxy, maybe even for the Force itself?

"What if I wanted to go with you?" She blurted suddenly.

Harry winced a bit, he didn't like the sound of that. "You want me to drop you off at Nar Shaddaa? Why would you want to go there? You realize that the heat on you _there _will be ten times what it is here?"

"I mean, I can hide your face with glamours, but that's only a temporary stop-gap, and its not permanent once you go on your way, it'll fade in time…" Harry trailed off. "There may be some biometrics that will see right through a glamour, I haven't really bothered to test it against _everything_ and the bounty hunters _there_ will be on your pretty little ass even faster than the wannabe hunters were here."

Ahsoka blushed slightly at the last comment before shaking her head. "No, I mean… " She hesitated and broke off a moment to compose her thoughts.

There weren't many options for her, in the wide galaxy. It was true, that she had a fair amount of technical skills that had been beaten into her skull in a do or die environment by Skywalker, but combine that with Jedi on her resume and most companies or groups likely wouldn't look twice at her. Most would probably think it was an undercover op and that she was actually still a Jedi sent there to spy on them for wrong-doing.

She could ultimately return to her homeworld, which would mean attempting to blend in with a world and lifestyle she didn't even know. She cringed at the thought of what many of her race did to leave their homeworld, and had no inclination to become a prostitute or dancer like many chose to do. They weren't quite at the same level of Twi'leks when it came to that sort of thing, but they weren't far off either.

That ultimately left trying to attach herself to those who would be willing to help her. She knew and trusted some people, but again, her background as an ex-Jedi now would be a liability for them, and Harry seemed to be completely unconcerned about the ramifications of having the Jedi council upset with him.

"Can you teach me how you do what you do?" she asked bluntly and gestured vaguely at the chair she was currently still sitting in. She never was very good at talking subtly and working her way into things.

Negotiations with Ahsoka Tano usually were done with a thermal grenade in one hand and a lightsaber in the other.

Harry blinked and tilted his head with a frown. He opened his mouth to reply and then shut it as his brow furrowed, as he truly considered the question. When he responded it was as much to himself as it was to her "I… don't know."

The question itself seemed to intrigue him. He scratched his cheek as he mused out loud, half to her, half to himself. "You're able to use Magic, and do so without a focus, so theoretically, I would guess you had the potential to learn."

Her expression grew excited but he held up his hand. "But… I don't think it would be easy or short. I mean children go to school for seven full years so they don't accidentally blow themselves or someone else up."

"That's just for basic competency." Harry ran a hand through his hair thoughtfully. "I mean, we're possibly talking several years to a decade, minimum of hard work here."

Ahsoka frowned, "I won't be a burden. I can earn my keep. I'm a decent mechanic, so I can help upkeep the ship. I have some connections all over the place after fighting in the war, and I'm not a liability in a fight…" She flushed a bit remembering the circumstances of their first interaction. "Though I need to get my lightsaber... or make a new one."

Harry was blinking in surprise, that was not the objection or response he had expected.

Ahsoka didn't take his surprise and silence for hesitation, but consideration, so she pressed forward. "Like I said, I promise I won't be a burden. But… the Force must have guided me to you because I… don't know that I have any other options." She finished with a quiet sigh and looked down at her lap while one hand idly stroked fingers up and down the lekku over her left shoulder. It reminded Harry of the way one of his old friends used to play with her hair when she was nervous.

Harry shook his head quickly and held up his hands in a calming motion. "Okay, okay. Miss Tano, I was merely concerned about the length of time involved and how magic would challenge the ideals you admitted to growing up with." He tapped his chin thoughtfully.

After a few moments, he took a breath and then involuntarily chuckled a little bit. "I haven't taught someone in a long time either. Never really had much interest in taking on a student or an apprentice. And never someone like this."

Ahsoka frowned at that comment, as he looked like he was in his mid-twenties, wondering what a long time might constitute, but her trail of thinking was disrupted as he grinned.

"At the very least this should be interesting. Alright Miss Tano, I will do my best to teach you, and you will be free to walk away at any time." Harry said earnestly, before his expression turned serious. "There is however one small caveat."

When she looked at him suspiciously at this statement, he continued. "One thing I'll require is an oath from you that you'll not teach others what I'm teaching you without my permission or until I release you from the oath or I find some way to get myself killed."

"Of course," Ahsoka nodded after only a moment's hesitation.

Harry shook his head. "No, I mean an actual Oath. A magical oath is not something to take lightly. Once taken, if violated, it will cost you your connection to your magic."

Seeing Ahsoka's startled expression, Harry shrugged slightly. "I do not want to be cruel, however there are people out there who could do very bad things and hurt a lot of people if they could do even a portion of what I can do."

Ahsoka swallowed a little bit and then nodded again.

Harry nodded and brightened. "We'll make that one of your first lessons… though later. First though, we should drop off Mr. Religious Desecrator over there off at the Bounty station."

Ahsoka glanced over where the man was presumably still unconscious before she nodded, somewhat nervously.

Harry grinned. "Relax. This should take 10 minutes, and you'll get to see some more magic."

Thirty minutes, a glamour charm, and two apparitions later they were 19,000 credits richer after the bounty hunter guild took it's cut. Twenty minutes after that The Gryffindor was clearing the Coruscant atmosphere, pausing only to transmit a brief message to the Jedi Temple communications exchange before it jumped to Hyperspace.

ooOoOOoOoo

"Most disturbing, this is." Yoda said, his taloned finger stroking his chin slowly. The diminutive Jedi Grand Master remained seated in his chair, one hand holding a twisted cane. Yoda was small and a pale green, his wrinkled visage giving some insight into the great age of the powerful being.

"'Disturbing'? That's all you can say about this?" demanded an absolutely irate Anakin Skywalker as he actually paced the chamber. The dark Jedi robes of the human billowed as he turned to pace back the other way. One of the most publicly recognizable Jedi in the ongoing Clone War, Anakin's dark hair brushed his shoulders as he turned. The man was classically handsome with an intense look on his face, marred only by a scar over his eye.

"My Padawan, who was railroaded out of the Order, nearly put to death while you all did _nothing_, is now running around with some Force-Using Bounty Hunter, after these two… threatened to throw her into prison _again_...?_" _He broke off not wanting to go quite as far as blatantly insulting the two masters, before he finished his statement, no less irate than he started.

"And all you can say is this is 'Disturbing'?" Anakin clenched his fists at his side to keep from throwing his hands in the air in disgust.

"Calm yourself, Anakin. Losing control at the moment will not help us to determine a course of action to take regarding this," came the cultured and soothing tone of Obi-Wan Kenobi. He sat rigidly in his chair, the bearded Jedi Master watched Anakin move with concern on his face. It was time like this when Anakin's emotions were so close to the surface that Obi-Wan was truly concerned about his padawan. "I myself share your… concerns, but we need to deal with the issue before us first."

"Nothing direct can we do," said Master Yoda. "Highly embarrassing, this trial has been for the Jedi Council more so than even the military or government."

"This holovid would be even more embarrassing if it were released to public," added Plo Kloon. "Outright damaging to the Order, in fact." He clarified needlessly. The Kel Dor Jedi spoke quietly. His head was bowed as his words came out through the antiox breath mask he wore. The mask added a deeper tone to the Jedi Master's voice.

Several other Jedi Master's looked at him with concern. He had been incredibly quiet since Ahsoka Tano had walked away from the Order. Several knew how close the two were, and thought the Jedi Master was blaming himself for his devotion to justice and how it blinded him that he knew Ahsoka better than any other Jedi save her Master, who believed her innocent. He was blaming himself for his lack of faith in her. He knew Ahsoka, who he affectionately referred to as 'Little Soka' would never murder in cold blood. The mechanical goggles that protected his eyes also prevented anyone from being able to tell what was going on in his head.

"The public is already wary of us having an excessive amount of power and influence due to our wartime roles," said a holoprojection of Mace Windu, who was already enroute to his next mission aboard one of their fleets. The bald and dark skinned Jedi master spoke bluntly to the people there as was in his nature.

"Outright abuse of power like this," he continued as he stared down Ki-Adi-Mundi as the cone-headed master fidgeted a little in a chair amongst the rest of the council, "Could give the Senate reason to introduce sanctions that would make the Ruusan Reformation look like a scolding meant for a naughty youngling."

Ki-Adi-Mundi shifted uncomfortably in his seat while aware that his companion in that afternoon's events was getting equally unpleasant glares from other Jedi Masters. Unlike Ki-Adi-Mundi however, he did not have a seat on the council, so Master Tre'jin was forced to merely stand there. Even over a holocom transmission, the image of Master Windu looked especially thunderous.

"Where did the transmission containing this holovid originate from?" asked Plo Kloon, his tone still quiet.

Obi-Wan was quickly flicking through information on a datapad as he spoke up almost absently. "It came from a freighter here on Coruscant just before it entered Hyperspace. The problem is, the freighter took off from a landing bay approximately 3,500 km from the walkway where Ahsoka and this stranger disappeared from. That is not enough time for any known suborbital craft in the immediate area to traverse that distance, so they must have transferred the recording to the pilot of that ship in an effort to throw us off if we decided to continue hunting them."

"Which means they're both likely still planetside then," finished Anakin with a nod as he spun without hesitation and began to walk away.

"Where are you going, Anakin?" Obi-Wan called out to his former apprentice, a note of concern in his voice. He was well aware that Anakin could be impetuous and given the volatile nature of the circumstances he was justifiably concerned.

"To find my Padawan before you all make up another reason to try and kill her..." Anakin shot back over his shoulder at the Masters in the room.

Before Obi-Wan could tell Anakin to wait, two more presences appeared via Holoprojection, over respective chairs as Masters Aayla Secura and Shaak Ti joined the conference. The Twi'lek and Togruta Jedi Masters' images hovering into view. In the distraction of their appearance, Anakin made his way out of the room and through doors that quickly closed behind him.

"What is the emergency we were summoned for?" asked Shaak Ti, she had been in meditation away from her troops and it had taken awhile for the message to reach her. The Togruta Jedi Master's voice was flat. Her robes gathered around her as she sat cross-legged facing the holocom. Her black and white striped lekku hung down over her chest, while her montrals protruded upward like horns.

"Does it have to do with how we will try to combat the effects that Padawan Tano's sham trial will have on the public's perception of our Order?" asked Aayla Secura, who was well known to have worked often with Ahsoka, and looked none too pleased as to what had happened. Nor was she shy about making her feelings known. The blue-skinned Jedi Master was not on the High Council, but as one of the more prominent and decorated generals in the war, as well as being in charge of a highly successful fleet of troops, so was often included in large scale discussions.

"Or how our own members now look at members of the Council with doubt after they viewed the ineptitude of our leadership," added Shaak Ti, causing several masters to look at her in surprise.

Usually more stoic and quiet regarding her thoughts and opinions, it was clear she was in complete agreement with both Anakin and Aayla regarding the treatment of Ahsoka Tano. None of them were pleased with the actions of the Jedi Council

Mace Windu replied curtly, "We're sending you a data packet now. Please review the video and the information included before you ask any additional questions."

Both Shaak Ti's and Aayla Secura's holo-transmission took on a garbled look as they looked at the recording they were sent. There was a brief lull in the discussion while they were reviewing it. The other Masters were looking either thoughtful or concerned, though none were voicing their thoughts. The only exception was Obi-Wan who looked like he was getting more information from his datapad.

The two masters rejoined the conversation almost simultaneously, their green holograms fading back into visibility at the same time.

"What else do we know about this… _Bounty Hunter_?" Stass Allie asked promptly, without waiting for anyone else to speak up. The dark skinned Jedi Master with the violet eyes looked around the room, not bothering to hide her disdain for the profession. The violet eyes would have been a distinctive feature if not for the traditional white Tholothian headdress adorning the woman's head, worn as a nod to her people and heritage.

"Nothing much," Master Obi-Wan spoke up. "I contacted the bounty hunter station nearest to that walkway. The bounty was turned in minutes prior to when we received that communication, which adds to the theory they were not on the ship that transmitted the message to us."

"The reward was transferred through standard protocols in the bounty hunter guild, where they took their cut and then transferred the money to a small time account which appears to have little to no activity as this was the first time any money has ever been deposited to it. It likely will be drained from another system and then never be used again. It'll be a dead-end unless we can link a ship to the man." He said with a faint air of resignation.

"We also have no legal recourse at the moment to try and seize the money. We're dangerously close to overstepping our remit with the bounty hunter guild merely by tracing the funds as far as we have." added Obi-Wan before it could be suggested.

Several masters shifted and there were nods all around. Relations with the guild were always tense at best and downright volatile at worst. The leadership of the guild was extremely wary and suspicious of the Jedi.

"What was the crime of the man they turned into the bounty hunter's office?" asked Luminara Unduli calmly "Perhaps that can give us some insight if he has a pattern concerning the bounties he targets."

Obi-Wan winced slightly. "Murder, destruction of property, and… desecration of a religious item of some importance to the Gamorreans." His tone all but begged anyone listening not to press their questions further on that topic.

"Forget the bounty that was turned in. What do we know about the bounty hunter himself? Anything?" an annoyed Mace Windu interjected.

Yoda sighed and looked at the two Jedi Master's who had confronted Harry, it was Master Mundi who spoke up. "Not much, beyond the fact that he didn't seem to like us very much."

"What about anything physical? Anything that might help identify him?" Mace asked with a little irritation in his voice.

Yoda shook his head. "Male and human, with dark hair."

"I remember he had very vivid green eyes." Master Tre'jin said suddenly as he thought about his encounter with Harry. He was wondering why he wasn't able to get an accurate description of the man, but for some reason the features just seemed fuzzy in his head.

Obi-Wan finally spoke up, as he still had the information he had gained from the Bounty Hunter's office in his hand, as well as what the temple slicer corp had managed to acquire. "The Bounty Hunter's Guild provided us the standard response to an official inquiry about a bounty hunter, including name and basic information. Once we had a name, our slicers were able to dig and get a little bit more information."

Obi-Wan's speech grew more slow as he obviously read through information provided to him. "The name of the bounty hunter was listed as, Albus Percival Wulfric Brian Dumbledore. It has several other aliases listed, 'Snivellus _'The Grease Stain'_ Snape', 'the-Boy-who-Lived', 'Lord Lemon Drop', 'Chief Mugwump', 'Muggle McMudblood', Agodden Bed and... 'Foat Gucker'."

Obi-wan trailed off at the last two names as he realized what he was saying. He gave a slight uncomfortable cough as he looked around and said unnecessarily. "All the names are highly likely to be fake."

Aayla's snort and then suppressed laughter could be heard, along with a few others visibly seen to cover their mouths, while others narrowed their eyes in irritation.

Obi-Wan continued reluctantly. "It does have biographical data listed… The man's planet of origin was… the planet 'Dirt', which is the 3rd planet around the star… 'Foot Bottom.' His listed response to 'current age' is 'be more specific, mentally, physically or existentially'?" Obi-Wan shook his head wondering if any of this was going to be of any use to them.

He continued reading, "Gender: 'If you mean sex, yes please'." Obi-Wan made a disgusted sound. "How uncivilized."

"And they accepted such an application?" asked Windu incredulously.

Obi-wan could merely shrug his shoulders, "He pays his dues and has a sponsor. That's all the guild really asks for."

He scrolled through the rest of the information in front of him before he gave a great sigh accompanied by a roll of his eyes, "This is all useless. There's nothing of value in his profile."

"We spoke with several people nearby, including a bar, where it seemed the individual was having a drink, several people identified Ahsoka Tano and said the man's name was "Harry." Master Mundi added to be of some help.

"Are we sure that name isn't just a set up for another joke?" muttered one of the Masters loudly.

"Well," said Aayla, after she'd managed to control a bit of her own laughter, it was harder than she would have admitted. "If we, as a group, are worried about our public perception then, by all means, release that information to the public."

She started to speak in a faux serious voice, "The Jedi Order is seeking a highly dangerous individual who goes by the monikers 'Foat Gucker', 'Lord Lemon Drop', 'A god in bed' and most recently, 'Harry.' I shudder to think of how many jokes people would make from those."

Shaak Ti muttered softly. "That would at least put to rest rumors that the Jedi Order has no sense of humor."

"So what course of action should we take regarding this individual and former Padawan Tano if she is travelling with him?" asked Mace when he saw that no one knew how to respond to the corner the Order had been backed into, and wanted to get the meeting back on track.

"Someone needs to track this individual down," Master Mundi spoke up immediately. "He was a Force user, albeit one who used abilities unfamiliar to us. He cannot be allowed to just... roam free with one of our padawans."

"We cannot allow him to turn someone like Padawan Tano to the Darkside. She possess crucial information about the Republic war effort which could be disastrous if it fell into enemy hands." His tone was somewhat urgent though his pose remained stiff in his seat as he looked around.

"Dark Side?" asked an almost unbelieving Aayla Secura. "Did all of you see the same holovid I did?"

"The only thing I've heard the man could do was somehow go invisible using the Force in a new manner, and cover people around him with the same ability, plus use a version of a flash bang, which is hardly something new for our Order." She said somewhat scornfully.

"From the video itself, I saw someone who was very familiar with our Republic's laws, which apparently certain members of this Council and other highly ranked members of our Order are lacking in familiarity." Her glare was on Master Tre'jin who shuffled uncomfortably

Anakin came striding back into the room, a look of irritation on his face. "She's left the planet."

That instantly garnered the attention of everyone in the room.

"How and when?" Mace Windu asked with a frown, "She's no longer part of the Order. She shouldn't have the means to go anywhere this quickly."

Anakin shrugged despite the irritation on his face, "She sent me a private message saying she was okay, and not to worry. She found… a means to continue her studies."

He hesitated, well aware that the next part was not going to go down well with a lot of the Jedi Masters around. "She called it an… education in the Force unlike anything she'd ever imagined before. She stressed that it was definitely not Sith, and that the person came from a culture who rarely if ever leave their planet, yet they have explored uses for the Force that she has never imagined possible."

"So she has admitted she has already fallen," declared Master Tre'jin with a definite note of vindication in his voice.

"I don't believe I heard that stated or implied in any such way, Master Tre'jin." stated Obi-Wan without hesitation, and a bit of heat. He was protective of Ahsoka, both as someone he liked and as his former padawan's now former padawan. His relationship to her, in his own mind was almost that of an uncle to his brother's daughter albeit without the close attachment as he so often reminded himself about both his former padawan, and Ahsoka.

"I do believe there are a number of Force-wielding sects across our galaxy, and while many of them are dark in nature, just as many are not. They simply choose to continue to follow their own ways, rather than conform to ours. A practice that is not illegal." His voice had once more returned to soothing logical tones.

"Anakin. Did she say where she was heading?" Mace Windu asked.

"No, she said something vague about following up on some of his contacts, as well as assessing her skills compared to his people's expectations." Anakin shook his head a bit at the uninformative message. "But the message contained all the identifiers we have to make sure I know she's not being coerced in any way."

There were some raised eyebrows of surprise, and a few of approval at that idea. But Obi-Wan spoke up. "When was the message that you received actually sent?"

"19:47 Coruscant Standard Time," Anakin replied immediately, not needing to check.

Obi-Wan looked down at the datapad he was using, checked things further. "That was just minutes after they'd been at the bounty station. Then, a few minutes later, the ship that ultimately transmitted the holovid of the interaction departed."

Mace Windu spoke up, "Could they have been on that ship, despite the distance involved?"

"I would say no, but unless Ahsoka was lying in her missive or hasn't actually left the planet yet, then I am not sure if they would have been able to leave the planet." said Obi-Wan.

"What was the name of that freighter that transmitted the holo recording?" Master Unduli asked curiously.

"The outbound flight plan was registered to a ship named the 'Gryffindor'. After checking with the pay by day docking bay the ship originated from, those records matched." Obi-wan answered, reading the information from his datapad.

"I'm not even sure I want to know what that name means." Obi-wan murmured as he continued reading. "The registry we have of the ship says that the planet of origin is 'Hoarty Warty Hogwarts."

There was a pause as Obi-wan looked up for any recognition of the name, when there were none, Obi-Wan continued. "Registered Owner - a Mr. Neville Longbottom."

Obi-Wan set down the datapad in disgust. "Is it bad I'm trying to think of sexual innuendo for every name that comes up now associated to this man? I'm not even sure I _want_ to know the sexual innuendo behind _that_ name."

He sighed and shook his head before picking up his datapad again, "Anyways, like the other identity… and all planets associated to this man, none of them are in our records, and I somehow doubt we're looking at another Kamino."

Master Allie nodded with a sigh, "I have been working with Master Jocasta Nu. Our search continues for any more information deleted by Count Dooku. Thus far, no other changes have been found, but we're having to check each record individually."

"Idea we have for where this freighter was headed?" Yoda inquired, his finger stroking his chin, as he tried to focus the topic once more.

Obi-Wan shook his head, setting down the datapad once more. "Well… his destination was listed as Nar Shaddaa… but that doesn't mean that's necessarily the truth, or his next stop. His flight path did have him on a trajectory was consistent with an outbound vector that would traverse the Corellian Run, which ultimately tells us nothing. That hyperspace lane can be used by nearly half the destinations in our galaxy."

"He is a bounty hunter… what was the origin system of the names used in any of his captures?" Mace inquired.

Obi-Wan returned to his datapad, and began to que up the results, his face taking on a slightly disgruntled look. "Unfortunately no. His designation with the Bounty Hunter's guild is extremely rare."

That generated some curious look and Obi-Wan shrugged a little bit. "He is listed as an active member which means he's paying dues. But that he isn't accepting contracts. In fact according to his record he has only turned in two bounties previously... curious."

Obi-Wan continued to look through the data, and his face took on a look of noticeable interesti and intrigue.

"What's curious Master Kenobi?" Master Shaak Ti inquired.

Obi-Wan's voice mused "A few things, his status in the guild means he is paying dues and paying money to stay active. But he isn't accepting contracts so that he can continue to earn money. It's almost like he's a member out of a lark so he can call himself a bounty hunter than being serious about it. Second, generally to become a full member you have to have completed at least 5 contracts, more than 20,000 credits total."

"Does it say who his sponsor was?" asked Master Secura from her hologram. She was familiar with the workings of the guild, and knew that to get in, one needed a sponsor to get in.

Obi-Wan frowned a bit and flicked through his datapad, shaking his head. "No... no it doesn't." Glancing around he saw more than one confused expression so he explained. "Each person who becomes a member must be sponsored by a recognized bounty hunter. Who his sponsor is might tell us more about him."

Anakin, who had been looking at his datapad and flicking through it quietly and absorbing information quickly. "I've got a few hits on his freighter. Either he doesn't seem to be making any effort to hide his movements, doesn't know how he can be tracked, or is actually going out of his way to be followed."

"What do you mean Anakin?" Obi-wan asked.

"His freighter, it's got flight plans on any number of worlds, even on ones where filing them isn't mandatory like here. There doesn't really seem to be any pattern. A slight majority of hits come from Hutt space, both Nal Hutta and Nar Shaddaa, also repeated appearances at Kashyyyk and then scattered all over the place, assuming they're all the same freighter." Anakin shook his head a little bit.

"Wait," said Anakin, as his fingers danced over the datapad, requerying the data with different criteria and sortings. The results seemed to not please him, but he was quick to offer them anyways. "The only pattern I can tell, and it's certainly not one frequently performed, is that he makes Nar Shaddaa his first point of entry every time he enters Hutt Space. The second trip could remain there, or go to the Corporate Sector, but the first is always there."

Obi-Wan spoke up, "It's possible, having saved Jabba's son may be to Ahsoka's benefit if that is their destination. Jabba has done nothing but expand his fortune and territory throughout this war since his son was rescued."

Yoda had his eyes closed and was frowning slightly. "Think, have someone investigate this man, we should. Committed no crime this man has, yet troubling this is. Like a beacon was the Force around him, however temporarily."

"Yes, but when we met him, until he used that flash to blind us and just disappeared there was no sign at all that he was a Force user." Ki-Adi-Mundu replied. "I tried to sense him or his actions and I couldn't sense a single thing."

Obi-Wan waved his hands dismissively at this information. "We already know from multiple sources that whoever the Sith is leading the Separatists is a Force user here that has significant influence in the Senate. Whether it is a Master or an apprentice."

Mace Windu nodded in agreement. "The idea that this man could shield himself from us is not something new, it is merely the first time we've been in the presence of someone who's actively used the ability in front of us without caution or worry. Though we have yet to determine why. We know the Sith are definitely capable of that."

"Are you implying that Ahsoka Tano is now in league with a Sith? Possibly the one we've been looking for?" Master Tre'jin demanded incredulously "And that I had him at my very fingertips?"

"It is good to see some things never change, Master Tre'jin. You are still as clumsy as you are stupid." Anakin interjected sharply, his voice cracking. He stared at the man with blatant dislike and disgust on his face.

"Why you arrogant little sno-" Master Tre'jin half shouted half growled.

"Enough." Mace Windu cut them both off with a commanding voice. The antagonism between the two was well documented, and he felt no need to let them degenerate into arguments now. As much as he sometimes disapproved of Skywalker and his actions from time to time, Mace was forced to concede that Master Tre'jin was as much at fault as Anakin was in this case.

Master Shaak Ti spoke up with an audibly exasperated voice, "Do you _really _think that a man who plays word games on various registration forms, quite probably to amuse himself, is some sort of dark mastermind behind the happenings in the Galactic Senate and the half of our galaxy for the past two decades? That this man, who is apparently in his mid-twenties according to you, masterminded the invasion of Naboo before he was a teenager?"

Master Tre'jin choked at the verbal jab from the unflappable Togruta Jedi but his reply was cut off by Mace Windu.

"Despite the accuracy behind the sentiment of Master Shaak Ti's statement, insulting each other does us no good. I agree with Master Yoda that we must go after Padawan Tano and investigate this man."

Yoda's voice rose once more, speaking slowly as if figuring out things on his own. "I sense… key this may be to unraveling mysteries."

"I will go after her," said Anakin with steel in his voice.

"No," said Master Windu almost immediately.

"We can't afford to lose your abilities, leadership, and, unfortunately most important, your presence on the front-lines, Anakin. For good or ill, your presence increases not only the morale of our troops, but the public opinion as well." Master Windu said bluntly with a trace of irritation in his voice.

"Politics", said Obi-Wan as if it was a dirty word before he turned to his friend, seeing the expression on his face he shook his head. "I don't like it either, Anakin, I would like nothing better than to track down this individual as well, but I wouldn't be able to shift my current assignments to anyone else who could handle it and be brought up to speed quickly."

"Need someone to pursue Padawan Tano who she trusts," stated Master Yoda firmly. That drew thoughtful looks across the room while Yoda had yet to open his eyes. Those around could tell that Yoda was merely pausing before continuing so there was no rebuttal to his statement. He lengthened out the silence by occasionally twisting and prodding the floor before him with his Gimer Stick as he leaned forward.

Yoda's eyes opened and he looked around the room slowly. Eventually his eyes focused upon Aayla Secura's presence there as a hologram. "Master Secura, what is your current assignment?"

Aayla responded immediately, "My troops and I had just received instructions to break off a small attachment to investigate a possibly abandoned Separatist base somewhere within the many planets and moons of the Endor system. The majority were to continue as an on-call relief force since we've been temporarily pulled back from the front lines for rest."

"Hmmmm," murmured Yoda as he stroked his chin with one clawed finger, his eyes regarding her but also slightly unfocused as if seeing something a great distance away.

"Important this is," said Yoda after some length of time, his eyes once more focused on her. There was conviction in his voice, and a heavy weight that was heard by all, letting all present know that Yoda believed this with all his being. "Shatterpoint, Master Windu likely call this, would he."

The man in question raised both of his eyebrows at this assertion, and all familiar with the man's method of utilizing the Force while in combat leaned in closer to listen to the Order's Grand Master.

Aayla Secura looked concerned as much by the order as by the statement and met Yoda's eyes. "What exactly does this mission entail?"

"To recover Padawan Tano and to bring back this individual for questioning of course." Ki-Adi-Mundi replied leaning forward, his tone one of surprise that she would even have to ask.

Shaak Ti's reply was immediate, "Under what authority? This man has violated no laws, and there is nothing he could possibly be charged with."

"Beyond having no common decency," muttered Obi-Wan.

Shaak Ti ignored the comment, continuing as if she hadn't heard it, although several masters smiled in response. "By our own admittance this man has broken none of our laws. Nor has he done anything that could justify dragging him back here, especially if he doesn't want to come willingly."

"Truth you speak Master Ti." Yoda spoke before any other reply could be formed.

"And Ahsoka Tano was expelled from the Jedi Order by the will of this very Council, and then refused readmittance, which is not illegal," stated Kit Fisto

"The Order has no authority to order her back," stated Anakin, even though he obviously didn't like acknowledging the truth of that statement.

Yoda nodded slowly, before exchanging a look with Mace Windu who more often than not had seemed closest with the aged Jedi Master. They stared at each other for several long moments before Yoda spoke up once more "Priority this mission has. Sense something around this man. What, know I do not."

Aayla frowned and spoke up once more, "That… honestly doesn't clear up what my mission actually is."

Yoda nodded a little. "Former padawan Ahsoka Tano you must find. Ascertain her status. Find out more about her companion. Worked well you have in the past, and familiar you are with Hutt Systems through infiltration work. Best hope you are for this mission."

"Don't make any hostile actions towards either of them unless absolutely necessary, to protect yourself or others." Master Windu added to Yoda's comments seamlessly.

Yoda's eyes were once more closed and he spoke up again without opening them. "Trust your instincts, Master Secura. Trust the Force. Important this will be. Clouded this man's nature is, but discover more we must."

"And if the man does something that requires me to protect myself or others?" Aayla asked quietly.

"Discuss it we will should that be necessary," responded Master Yoda .

"Head to Nar Shaddaa, if indeed his path leads there, that may be the best place to start. We will speak again once you've arrived and update you with anything else we've found." instructed Master Windu.

Aayla nodded hesitantly, "I will be on my way within the hour."

"May the Force be with you, Master Secura." Obi-Wan said.

Aayla merely nodded and disconnected.

Yoda nodded his head in approval once before breathing in with a deep sigh and turning his head, he fixed first Ki-Adi-Mundi and then focused fully on Tre'jin with a glare "Discuss now we will, your deplorable behavior."

Obi-Wan spoke up, "You know we still need someone to go to the Ice World of Hoth and thoroughly explore the glaciers to ascertain there's no droid army presence."

"Indeed," added Plo Kloon. "Having two instead of one will make it go twice as fast. After all, there's only 16,000 square kilometers to check in the area we identified, and all of it done on foot, at least until some cold weather warfare assets can be detailed for the mission."

"And they are notoriously difficult to requisition by our quartermasters at the present time," added Anakin with a gleam in his eyes.

**ooOoOOoOoo**

**Author's note:**

**Bwahaha. I'm pretty much loving this story. This Harry is pretty damned fun to write. Of course because he's one of my characters he's not completely without emotional damage. But his story will come! (Plums - Much later, unfortunately)**

**How is Harry's presence going to change things? *snickers* You'll just have to wait and find out. It has ALREADY BEGUN. *dun dun dun* **

**I'm doing this story a little differently. As i'm currently working on chapter 11 with it. Though constantly tweaking the rest of the chapters, and i'm seeing how this is going.**

**For those reviews and messages I get asking about my progress on I'm Still Here. No it is not abandoned. No it is not on hiatus. Part of the next chapter is written, more of it is outlined. I do not know when it will come out, because right now, this story sorta hijacked my muse and outright refuses to give it up. **

**As always Plums has been a great co-author. He helps add a certain zest to things! He also keeps me from going… quite batshit insane when I can't make an idea work. He's super supportive and I can never say thank you to him enough. **

**And I would be remiss if I didn't mention that Samantha Minuet bit her tongue, ignored her dislike for Harry in order to beta read through this for me. (In the end she MAY have confessed that my writing of him didn't totally suck, which was nice ^_^) **

**Plums Notes:**

**To me, its very odd looking at this chapter, knowing that it now stands at roughly 14k words, when it was probably less than a tenth of that in outline form 6 months ago when we started working on this last October.**

**Some of the Jedi have always naturally just 'bugged' me, and all the negativity you may infer that is directed towards Ki-Adi-Mundi can be placed squarely upon my shoulders. I mean in Canon Star Wars, the dude apparently is freaking married, because his "species is endangered". So its okay for him to lay some pipe for the Greater Good, but not Anakin. Granted, Anakin never should have spawned with anyone, but that's besides the point. The guy was always a calm condescending prick whenever he was on screen, and he was the sole Jedi in Revenge of the Sith that I cheered when he bought the farm. The negativity towards him is solely on me.**

**Tre'jin's over the top silliness, you can blame that squarely on Kat. She wanted another foil for this, and searched long to dredge up his character.**

**The campaigns and assignments the Jedi are taking during the meeting are all taken from canon. Hell, I actually own the extremely poorly drawn comic book where Aayla and her troops go to Endor that's mentioned in her 'current assignments.' We won't be sticking with canon / AU / EU Clone Wars events for long, but just long enough to set up some of the general 'stuff' until we derail the train and turn everything on its head in terms of the plot.**

**That's why we read fan-fiction, isn't it? We WANT something different than the standard ole garbage we've read (or watched) hundreds of times.**

**Anyways, hope you enjoyed this. I'm still trying to get over the fact someone actually drew a drawing inspired by Chapter one, crossing Harry with Jiraiya from Naruto and having Harry do a Toad-Sage-over-the-top-pervert-intro, with Ahsoka calling him pervert-sensei while rolling her eyes in annoyance.**

**I've never been prouder in my life. **

**Kathryn: Check the link in my profile for a look at it! It's the first time someone has done art for any of my stories! I am more than a little psyched!**

**Alternate chapter titles.**

"**Man, if I knew someone was going to read them out loud I would have had more aliases." - Harry Potter.**

"**My dialogue seemed so much more intimidating in episodes 4-6 and I have no idea why." - Anakin Skywalker**

"**Harry causing trouble. Statistically proven to be safest bet in the galaxy." - Minnie**

"**Hey, I negotiated and nothing blew up!" - Ahsoka Tano**

"**What a shock. They send the Twi'lek to Nar Shaddaa." Aayla Secura**

**"At least it's not Hoth. I'm going to freeze my ass off." - Master Tre'jin**

**"Consider Hoth just a trial to be overcome!" - snarky Ahsoka Tano**

**"Could be worse. Could be Tatooine. Why the eff that planet gets so many parts of stories is beyond me." - Any star wars fan ever.**

"**Every conversation I'm in, I will say 'uncivilized' at least once." Obi-Wan Kenobi**


	3. The Sound of Magic

**~Chapter 3~**

**The Sound of Magic**

ooOoOoOOoOoOoo

Ahsoka was sitting in the co-pilot seat aboard the Gryffindor and was watching as Harry competently prepared the ship to go to lightspeed. It was then she realized that she never felt more excited and just plain _right _about a decision in her life. She wondered if it was the newness of her situation, but inwardly the young Togrutan felt it was more than that. It was like the Force had settled around and inside of her, and was _pleased, _a sensation she wasn't familiar with.

She was still trying to figure Harry out. She had asked to send a message to her former Master. Anakin had been the only one in the entire Order who had stood by her, and Ahsoka was sure that he would be worried about her once the Masters they had encountered had reported what happened.

She also knew her old master had his own doubts about the Jedi Order and their decisions, but Ahsoka hoped Anakin wouldn't do anything impulsive, though she wasn't willing to place any large wagers on it. But she knew he would want to know she was okay, and that she wasn't in any sort of trouble.

The message she sent to Anakin contained all the normal 'all clear' elements. They had worked together long enough that neither wanted to be responsible for leading the other into a trap if they were coerced into sending a message. She had hoped to put his mind at ease… if such a thing was even possible.

Ahsoka thought SkyGuy worried about way too many things, though she couldn't blame him entirely. If the Jedi Council ever discovered the true nature of his relationship with Senator Padme, they would expel him, though sometimes she wondered if that was something Anakin should truly be worrying about. Anakin would never stop helping anyone in need, and if he was attached to Senator Amidala's side publicly, who was known herself to be a champion of the people, she honestly didn't see Anakin's life changing much without the Order.

Ahsoka was very much aware of the relationship between Padme and her former Master. She had spent a good deal of time around both of them, and they weren't as subtle as they hoped. Ahsoka had become suspicious very early on, it was easy to tell if she watched the expressions on the two when they talked, especially when they thought no one was looking.

Word of the relationship, or even her suspicion of such, was something she had never mentioned to anyone, though she suspected that Master Kenobi, Anakin's old Master, at least suspected the relationship as well. However, Ahsoka was loyal to Anakin, he had given her too much and stood by her when no one else would, not to mention the times he had saved her life, though that was a two way street, she had saved him several times as well.

She liked Padme Amidala as well. The woman was strong willed, intelligent, brave and had a good heart. She had helped the both of them out several times. The Senator from Naboo had even acted as her defense attorney in the sham trial. Padme had spoken eloquently and factually even with an establishment that was set up against her. In the end, Padme was a friend too.

It was obvious to Ahsoka at least that the two were in love.

Keeping their entire relationship a secret, plus the stress of the war and politics that brought, and of course training his headstrong Padawan…

Still, she worried about everything that was on her old Master's plate. He seemed to have twice the responsibilities of a normal Jedi, plus all the extracurricular stuff that no other Jedi would even dream of involving himself in.

Ahsoka shook her head slightly and fought off a smile. He was going to have an ulcer before he was thirty… well either that or finally snap and just start killing anyone and everyone that irritated him..

Another thing that had set her mind at ease regarding Harry was that he hadn't seemed even slightly bothered about her sending a message. There was no request on his part to not mention where they might be headed. There wasn't even a request to see the message itself to ensure his own safety.

The entire way he had responded to the knowledge she was going to communicate with Anakin displayed a very high level of trust on his part, or an extreme level of naivety, though she doubted Harry was afflicted with the latter. Anyone who could flippantly plot a course to travel to Nar Shaddaa to meet contacts had to be at least mildly competent in their work, or they wouldn't survive long.

As Ahsoka observed Harry she felt herself under observation as well. Not by Harry, at least not by anything covert. At the moment he seemed focused on flight.

No, there was a white avian of some species she had never encountered before. Ahsoka assumed it was a pet, but the bird seemed to be just watching her imperiously from where her sharp looking claws dug into the shoulder of the chair Harry was sitting. From the indents and creases on that shoulder it was quite obviously a familiar perch for the bird. However, the bird's attention wasn't drawn by any small movements Harry made, her head was turned and staring at her unblinkingly.

Ahsoka's attention was drawn away from the bird's piercing stare as the stars in the viewport elongated to the trails of lights that signified entering hyperspace. Ahsoka watched as Harry leaned back comfortably in the pilot's chair as the cockpit filled with the mottled blur of lights that now filled the canopy before them.

"So, how long before the Order sends someone after us do you think?" Harry asked as he idly reached up to stroke his fingers over the bird's chest.

Harry's voice was conversational and almost thoughtful, but he didn't seem particularly bothered by the possibility of any Jedi pursuing them.

"I didn't tell them where we were going." Ahsoka said with a hint of defensiveness in her voice. Maybe she'd been wrong in her assumption that he had no interest in what she wrote to Anakin. "What makes you think they're going to come after us?"

"I wasn't accusing you of anything. But I know their type." Harry replied with a faint, almost absent smile on his face.

"Their type?" Ahsoka echoed.

Harry snorted, "Yeah, old busy bodies with an inflated sense of entitlement, especially when it comes to things like information. They think they have a right to know something just because it exists. I've been staying off their radar for years. But, I didn't bother to memory charm any of them this time, though, so this will probably be the time they get too curious for their own good."

"Memory charm?" Ahsoka asked with a puzzled frown, she had latched onto that part of his comment because she couldn't quite bring herself to disagree with his evaluation of the Jedi, though she didn't seem to blame them or hold it against them in the same way. Given their position, knowledge was something they desperately needed. Of course if they had been a bit more diligent about seeking out knowledge then they wouldn't have chucked her out of the Order in the first place.

Harry chuckled a little bit, "Not the first time I've run into a Jedi. Not even the first time I've used magic around one in the past few years. I've had to use a memory charm to make a Jedi forget about me… oh I don't know… 5 or 6 times after different… encounters."

"You make them forget about you? How?" Ahsoka's eyes were wide, using a mind trick on a Jedi was incredibly hard.

"Like I said, a memory charm. It's a charm that safely erases part of the memory, usually small chunks of time, 5 or 10 minutes, and the person doesn't even realize they've lost the time. The charm leaves them suggestible for a few moments so you can tell them something to fill in the gap, and their subconscious runs with it from there. Though people who are more skilled at the charm can do days, especially if the mind isn't all that disciplined."

A small smirk came to Harry's face. "Or occasionally if you try and vastly overpower the spell, you can erase nearly all memories. Wouldn't recommend trying that with a broken focus though. Trust me, it can lead to bad experiences."

"That sounds like it could be abused so easily…" Ahsoka said quietly.

"Absolutely." Harry readily agreed, and his voice had that rare tone of seriousness to it that made her pay attention to it all the more. "That's why I insisted on an oath before I taught you. If you left and just started teaching people left and right… well, it could cause a lot of chaos."

"But that can't be the first time you used the Force." Ahsoka stated with a puzzled frown, "No one else has reported feeling… whatever it is you do when you use the Force, but the Masters felt it all the way over at the Temple…"

Harry's puzzled expression turned to one of understanding, though a thoughtful look crossed his face "Ah, If I'm not careful... or like with the Bartender and I don't use a focus... Merlin I really _should_ learn her name next time."

He shook his head getting back on track. "Healing her without a focus made more magical noise than I wanted. I was sloppy and in a hurry, she really didn't have much time."

"You keep mentioning a focus, and what do you mean by noise?" Ahsoka echoed, getting a bit annoyed though as much with herself as she was with her companion since he seemed to be doing his best to answer her questions as they came and she still didn't fully comprehend the answers he was readily giving her.

Harry frowned and regarded her thoughtfully for several moments before nodding and pushing himself up out of the pilot's chair decisively. "Alright, I think it's time for your first lesson." He stood up and gestured for her to follow him out of the cockpit, without turning to make sure she was behind him.

Ahsoka got up and quickly followed him, determined not to admit that she was more than a little creeped out by the fact that the bird's head followed her as she left the cockpit as if on a swivel.

Harry lead her into the hangar space and toward one corner that was was empty and seemed surprisingly clean. Ahsoka glanced around sharply and realized that the hangar, and the ship as a whole was incredibly clean, and looked as if it were polished regularly. That was something that only seen on the most luxurious and expensive liners. Or people who bought a pretty ship and only took them on short trips in the system, then spent an inordinate amount of time 'maintaining' them. Ahsoka pushed that thought into the back of her mind as Harry turned to focus on her.

"Okay. As you seem to have observed, when someone uses magic, if someone else is nearby and sufficiently aware of their surroundings and flows of magic, then they're able to sense those things." Harry's voice slipped into the easy tones of an educator.

Ahsoka nodded "Like the disturbance in the Force that I could sense when you were doing those things in the bar?"

Harry tilted his head and nodded. "That's right. I tend to think of it as noise. Because it also requires proximity. The quieter the noise the closer you have to be to hear it."

"So it's only because I was close to you, I could feel when you did that stuff." Ahsoka clarified.

Harry nodded with a pleased smile, "For most of the stuff yes. Most of what I did was very basic. Simple unlocking spell on the box, switching spell on the binders, and stunning spells to knock the morons out. "

"Spells?" Ahsoka echoed, amusement in her voice.

Harry mock glared at her, but the corner of his lips quirked upward. "Exactly. Spells. The more powerful or more complicated a spell the louder the noise. So, while those smaller things were much quieter, and probably only you were able to tell, when I healed the bartender lady with the nice chest it-"

"She does have a name!" Ahsoka interrupted, with a bit of a scowl on her face.

"I know, I just don't think I've ever asked." Harry responded with a shrug.

"Too busy staring at her chest?" Ahsoka asked, a hint of disapproval in her voice.

"Probably. It was a nice rack. And she certainly has no problems giving me pictures of it. Do you happen to know her name?" Harry grinned unrepentantly at Ahsoka, not bothered by the disapproval in the slightest.

"Well… no but I only met her today. You obviously have known her awhile. She's more than just a pair of breasts with a body attached," sighed Ahsoka with a shake of her head. .

"I know," agreed Harry with a grin. "She has an amazing arse too._"_

"_Anyway_," Harry continued before Ashoka could comment on that admission. "When I cast the stunning spells those were like the whispers in a room. Barely audible. You heard them because you were next to me. I doubt anyone beyond a dozen feet heard that. I used the absolute bare minimum power required to utilize that spell."

"On the other hand, healing a person who's just taken a blaster bolt to their impressive chest? Burning muscle and fatty tissue away, as well as damaging the lungs beyond that? Much more complicated." Harry said sardonically.

"You're obsessed with that Zeltron's chest." Ahsoka rolled her eyes, despite coming to the realization that Harry was saying it as much to rile her up as he was for any other reason.

"Not just _her _chest. Besides, everyone has to have an obsession or two." Harry shrugged and restrained himself from making a further comment. "Healing her like I did was the equivalent of someone shouting in the middle of a library through a set of amplifiers, especially since I couldn't afford to go slow."

"She had no inherent magic for me to slip her into stasis, which would have allowed me to go slower and be more quiet. So, I either had to heal it all at once or not at all. That's what no doubt attracted those friendly fellows from the Order." Harry couldn't resist a smirk imagining what sort of trouble the holo-recording might have caused.

"Now, if I actually knew specific healing spells that could not only heal cauterized tissue, but regenerate organs in the span of a few seconds I could have used a focus to quiet the noise. But… healing was one area I've never spent much time focusing on. Mostly because if someone was injured and no medi-witches were around. I could usually just pour enough power and intent into my magic to force the healing process to start."

He looked a little sheepish. "I could always brute force the spell to heal things, and it was one of two areas of magic I didn't spend much time specifically learning properly over the years... though I do have medical texts aplenty that I use."

His gaze seemed to drift as he considered that, and his voice turned musing. "Maybe I should look into that. It would be interesting to see if spells made for humans worked with the more alien physiologies I've encountered. Zeltron are close enough that the same sort of thing I've always half-assed for humans work just fine, and a blaster bolt has similar properties to certain offensive spells." Harry's eyes went glassy as he considered that thought.

Ahsoka looked at him for several moments, that stretched out into almost a minute before she waved a hand in front of his face That seemed to snap him out of it.

"Sorry. Bad habit." He looked a little bit sheepish.

"What did you mean by a focus to quiet the noise?" She shook her head slightly, rather than just asking about his little zone out, she tried to get him back on track to answer one question at a time. She observed him carefully still concerned about the habit though. Where and how did he develop the habit of just getting lost in a thought?

Harry was unaware of her disquiet, seeming totally engaged once more. He rubbed his hands together before he flicked his wrist in an odd movement and a stick snapped into his hand, to hold it in front of her.

She looked down at it and then back up at him. "A stick?"

"This is one of my wands, it's my magic focus." Harry looked affronted at her calling the dark brown piece of wood in his hand a simple stick.

"You… have a magic wand." she said dryly, wondering if he was teasing her.

"So I've been told." Harry grinned and wiggled his eyebrows before striking a little pose and then continuing without missing a beat. "Now, watch this."

The end of the wand began to glow in a soft light. His tone was more serious, "Can you feel anything when I do that?"

Ahsoka frowned a little bit, narrowing her eyes at the tip of the wood that was now glowing. "Not… really." She finally replied after stretching out her senses.

Harry nodded, "To be honest, it would surprise me if you did. That's _lumos. _It is the very first spell taught to first year students at the school I went to. It… does pretty much what you see. It makes a light."

"Of course later you learn that the amount of light depends on how much power you put into it. You can put very little…" Harry demonstrated and the light on the wand faded to a dim glow, barely discernable in the lit cargo hold.

"Or, you can put more power into it..." Harry said as the tip of the wand began to glow with a white light that was so bright Ahsoka had to turn her head away.

When she turned away and closed her eyes Ahsoka could feel a very faint buzzing that seemed on the very edge of her senses. "I... can feel that. Very softly in the distance." She said, though her voice had a little bit of uncertainty in it.

Harry nodded a little bit, and with a slight wave of the wand, the light dimmed noticeably. "You'll be happy to know that that is one area you have up on wizards."

When Ahsoka turned her head back to look at him, he nodded a little bit. "Only advanced wizards get to the point where they can intuitively feel magic, usually it takes a hundred or so years of using it, and only when deliberately trained. No wizard or witch I've ever met with your youth can hear it."

"Can you hear it?" Ahsoka asked with a puzzled expression on her face.

Harry nodded, "Yes, and it's much like you described, like a soft buzzing in the distance."

"But you're not that much older than I am." Ahsoka argued with a puzzled frown.

Harry blinked and then started to chuckle softly, "Let's just say I'm a special case and that I'm a bit older than I look." He pressed on before she could ask more questions. "To be able to sense magic usually requires that you learn a discipline called occlumency."

"Occlumency," Ahsoka echoed as she said the unfamiliar word, her attention diverted.

"Yes, you learn to clear and organize your mind, and then learn how to defend it from outside intrusion." At Ahsoka's startled expression Harry expanded slightly. "Some wizards could use an art called legilimency to get into your mind. It doesn't require the recipient be conscious, but it usually it requires eye contact… or by other extreme, illogical and extraordinary circumstances."

"Occlumency protects the mind from legilimency and other mind based attacks, even if the person isn't conscious. Though at some point it was also discovered to be quite effective against non-magical interrogation and sensory deprivation techniques." Harry explained.

Ahsoka frowned a little bit as she considered his words before speaking up. "A significant part of Jedi training is spent learning to meditate and clear our minds of thoughts to center ourselves."

Harry blinked and looked taken by surprise, "Really?"

Ahsoka nodded, "It's practically one of the first things we taught to start trying to do. Clear our mind of thoughts and emotions and just be. But it takes years and years to master. Only a few of the Masters would say they've actually mastered it, but all of our other skills and abilities come after we have become somewhat competent in the basics."

Harry was rubbing his chin in thought, when he spoke it was almost like he was talking it out to himself, "Taught the basics of Occlumency from a young age. Or at least… a bastardized version of it. That doesn't require much use of active magic either. So I doubt it would do any damage."

"On the other hand, it would open up younger students to feel the magic around them far easier. And to do that would allow them to understand what they were working with far more easily. I could see how that would make so many Jedi able to feel the magic around them. Huh." Once more his eyes glazed slightly and he seemed to get lost in thought.

After nearly a minute and a concerned look from Ahsoka followed by a wave a hand in front of his face, Harry shook it off. "Sorry, I was just thinking about that. I admit I've only done some cursory looking into how Jedi train, and a lot of what I heard was about mastering emotions, not having connections or attachments. And historically it's all about so and so Jedi dying bravely or falling to the dark side or both."

Harry shook his head, "Anyway, that's something to explore another day. But I bet it helps your learning curve… at least a little bit. Anyway, back to my original point. The same spell, a simple _lumos." _ Harry held up his empty hand and a ball of light appeared in it floating there.

Ahsoka started, despite half expecting it, as she saw the floating ball of light that Harry was holding so casually. After a moment Ahsoka shook off her surprise and nodded, "I feel that!"

It was true, the feeling was incredibly small, but noticeable, much like it had been when Harry had been casting the light brightly with a wand a few moments earlier.

Harry nodded in response, "It's the same spell, only without using a focus, so it generates more magical 'noise'. However given that it's a basic spell I doubt you'd be able to hear me farther than a few yards away."

Harry closed his hand and the light disappeared. "Now for a slightly more noticeable spell." Harry pointed his wand at the wall, and immediately a burst of water shot from the wand against the wall."

Ahsoka jerked violently back in surprise at the sudden appearance of water, enough that she stumbled and nearly fell backwards on her ass. This time there was no doubt at all, she could feel it happening through the Force. It was easily every bit as noticeable as the bits of Force he had used in the bar. And it wasn't some sort of illusion either. She could see it soaking the wall and ground.

She reached out her hand to verify it to her senses, but stopped herself, unsure if that would affect something or hurt her. She slowly stood up and watched as the water began to pool at Harry's feet. Harry just watched in amusement while continuing to channel the spell.

"Is… it real?" She finally asked. Ahsoka realized almost immediately it was a mistake to ask as a mischievous smirk crossed Harry's face.

"See for yourself." He said with a grin turning the wand on her. Instantly drenching her in cold water as she squealed then sputtered and jumped back attempting to get out of the way of the water as it tracked her before Harry mercifully ended it.

Ahsoka was standing there drenched from head to toe. She shook herself slightly as surprise fled her expression leaving her face set in a glare directed at him.

"So Miss Tano, what is your verdict? Was that real?" Harry grinned impishly.

"You… you…!" Ahsoka stuttered inarticulately.

Harry laughed softly and then waved the wand at her. Ahsoka flinched back expecting more water but instead felt herself being subtly surrounded by the Force. It was… one of the most comforting and intense feelings she had experienced in her life. It was like the Force was touching and caressing her everywhere.

For a moment Ahsoka Tano felt warm and completely and utterly safe. A moment later her skin and her clothes were dry. She was even more lost for words than she had been earlier. This time it wasn't because she was amazed at his ability to conjure water, instead it was because of the feelings she had just experienced. She blinked in astonishment, "That's... amazing!"

Harry chuckled, not really understanding why she was so amazed, especially after showing her the ability to conjure a chair. Then he turned his empty hand away from her and pointed it at the wall. She felt a much larger surge of the force one that continued as she saw water emerge once more. It literally seemed to appear from nowhere out of his hand and splash against the wall.

She looked at him, able to sense the use of power much more clearly. She pointed at his hand, "That's much easier to feel in the Force. Not quite as loud as the healing you did in the bar, but definitely noticeable."

Harry smiled, looking pleased and stopped the spell. "I'm not surprised conjuring is one of the more magic intensive abilities out there. It draws the most notice. The reason you could hear it is because I wasn't using my wand, which generally requires less power and is able to focus magic for more complicated things. I also was making no effort to "hide" what I was doing. WIth a bit more concentration I can…"

Harry pointed his hand at the wall once more and water sprayed forth once more, though this time it was much a much softer impact in the Force than it had been before. Though Ahsoka noted that Harry had a look of concentration on his face.

Ahsoka frowned as she extended her senses, "I can feel that… it's… just quieter than it was, I have to concentrate harder to get it."

Harry chuckled and nodded, looking pleased. "That's impressive that you can hear it at all. But yes it either takes a lot of concentration, or some artifacts I have, to hide magic effects so close up to someone who's sensitive to them." He stopped casting by closing his hand.

"So what's the first thing you'll teach me? You actually just showed me a few things, or was that just a lesson in noise?" Ahsoka asked, her eagerness coming to the fore.

That brought him up short.

She could tell he hadn't actually put any proper thought into teaching her, and was winging it

His next words confirmed her thoughts, "You know, I've never actually taught at the beginning level before. At least not from the ground up. This should be interesting. Especially given your already being exposed to magic." His eyes unfocused as he considered that he might honestly be learning new things about magic that he'd never considered. '_Maybe she..._'

After a few moments, she noticed that, once again, he was off in la la land. A quick snap of her fingers brought him out of it, and he seemed unconcerned or unaware of his little drift off when his focus returned.

"Well," he said as he rubbed the back of his head with his hand as he considered her question. "I suppose _Lumos_ could be your first lesson."

He gave a cheeky grin, "You hardly need Cauldron safety tips for Potions since we won't be doing that, History of Magic of my world would be right useless to you, and I doubt you have any interest at all in herbology."

"However, I think… until we get you a wand we'll need to stick with a lot of theory and understanding, because you can already use magic consciously… you'll be advanced in that area and deficient in theoretical areas."

He looked sheepish. "I'm afraid your first lessons are going to be quite boring until we make our stop in Nar Shaddaa and then head to Kashyyyk. Once we get there, I'll be able to see about getting you a wand and really getting you started."

"C'mon, let's go sit down and talk a bit, so I can also ask some questions, to figure out exactly what you've been taught and what I might need to un-brainwash you from." Harry gestured back toward where they had first sat for conversation.

Ahsoka nodded and then glanced at the substantial puddle, left by Harry's demonstration "Should we grab something to clean this up?"

Harry glanced back and shook his head, "No, leave it, Dobby will have it squared away before we come back. And he'll get offended if you try and clean it yourself."

ooOoOOoOoo

"What are we doing here?" Ahsoka asked as she looked around.

The bar they currently found themselves in was much different than the one she had met Harry in originally. That bar was homey, and relatively quiet and the patrons there seemed easygoing and rather open. This bar was practically the opposite. It was big and crowded and loud. The clientele here made the first bar look practically pedestrian.

Both she and Harry had cloaks on, with hoods up obscuring their features. Of course that put them at or near the majority in this place. More than half of the people had their identities obscured in one way or another.

Harry grinned at her as he slid into a booth after her. "We're here to meet one of the best slicers in the galaxy."

Ahsoka narrowed her eyes slightly at the teasing tone, before her lips twitched slightly, "Oh? For what… Master?"

Harry sighed a bit in irritation, "Well, two fold. I'm delivering something for services rendered on behalf of a mutual friend, and that was my ticket to actually see the guy."

Ahsoka smiled a bit at the note of irritation in his voice. She had been working and discussing theory with him, while Harry demonstrated various things on the way to Nar Shaddaa. Ahsoka had found all of it interesting and was eager to learn, and Harry seemed to enjoy the discussions because of her perspective and the questions she posed.

Once during the discussions, she had slipped during the back and forth one point, and called him '_Master'_. For her it was merely a matter of ingrained habit from the Jedi temple, the teachers were almost always addressed as Master.

It was a simple slip of the tongue but Harry had looked stunned and immediately shook his head, and had practically pleaded with her not to call him that. However, his theatrical pleading had her just as theatrically asking why, since he was now her teacher and it was totally appropriate to use the term.

Harry had looked around furtively and replied, "Because it took forever to break Dobby of calling me master. If he hears you do it, he may start up again because he thinks someone else is doing it."

Of course she had yet to actually meet, or even see his mysterious ship keeper and mechanic. Whenever she asked about him, Harry had shrugged and said, "He prides himself on staying out of sight most of the time."

She wasn't even sure he existed. She half thought Harry was playing some sort of elaborate prank on her, but it looked like something he was honestly worried about. However, whenever he felt the need to demonstrate on her during their discussions and demonstrations she had started retaliating by calling him Master as sweetly as possible. It seemed to equalize their relationship a great deal, and Harry didn't seem to truly get upset, though he would always look around with a worried expression.

"Why do you want to meet this guy?" Ahsoka asked as she perused the room, her senses telling her that there was danger around, though nothing specific.

"I don't know if they're a guy or girl, I'm just looking to hire them." Harry replied after a moment.

"Oh? You don't know if they're a guy or girl? And you want to hire them? Something you want to share Master?" Ahsoka said with an amused smile. She had also gotten more comfortable teasing Harry over the past few days. Of course his constant banter had rubbed off a little bit as he seemed to view very few things as truly out of bounds.

"I think I have enough fixation on women that isn't really a concern." Harry laughed softly and shook his head, "Besides, I've never paid for _that_ in my life."

There was a brief pause as Harry hesitated and tilted his head. "Well, that's not entirely true."

At Ahsoka's stricken look Harry grinned. "A friend of mine was the rather uptight sort. Good bloke, a bit shy but brave. Raised by a domineering grandmother who, though well intentioned left him way too timid and withdrawn around the opposite sex. So… I sort of kidnapped him, and locked him in a room with apparition and portkey wards, and supplied with food and water. Throw in some stamina and lust potions, and a dozen or so women who happened to be members of the galaxy's oldest profession, or at least willing to dabble in it for the money I was offering. It was practically a public service."

"You… what?" Ahsoka stared at him aghast.

"Oh he was fine." Harry grinned, "I let him out a week later, or was it two? It doesn't matter, he was apparently a bit sore, but practically a different person around women."

"His… grandmother never forgave me though." Harry shook his head with a regretful sigh.

"Of course she didn't forgive you!" Ahsoka sighed rolling her eyes. "You kidnapped her grandson, and trapped him with prostitutes for a _week_. I bet she was beside herself with worry!"

"What?" Harry looked confused. "Oh no, she was out of the country when I took him. And kidnapping is such a _strong_ term. It's more appropriate to say that I temporarily detained him; and he got back before she even realized he was missing."

"Then… why was she angry?" Ahsoka asked, confused.

"Oh. He ended up marrying a pair of the girls I paid… would have been four but the laws prevented that excess, so he took two others as legal mistresses and they all moved in," Harry laughed with an amused twinkle in his eyes. "Apparently they were _well_ worth the money."

"She did not approve of the former professions of her son's wives. She did not like that he took mistresses, and she _definitely _did not like that some of the others I paid were frequent guests at their manor after that. I'm not sure who told her but she never forgave me for setting it up. She gave me a death glare whenever I visited after that," Harry shook his head with a sigh, "Didn't stop her from doting on her great-grand babies though."

"I'm… not even sure what to say to that." Ahsoka stated as she tried to envision what Harry was saying.

Harry shrugged and glanced around the bar, his eyes seeming to analyze each individual though he didn't stop on any one in particular.

"What are you looking for a hacker for?" Ahsoka asked finally trying to go back to their initial topic of conversation. It was a habit she was becoming accustomed to as Harry occasionally went off on random tangents in their conversations.

"I want to see if they can find some answers to questions I have, and what happened to someone that may never have existed." Harry's responses were short as his eyes scanned the crowd. He was unsurprised when not a minute after he waved off a barmaid that someone abruptly slipped into the seat across from them.

The person was also hooded and cloaked, and even had a piece of cloth over their face. Ahsoka couldn't even identify the species beyond the vague definition of humanoid. The only thing that was visible were the eyes.

"I thought I'd be meeting one person," The voice was low but was obviously coming through some sort of modulator to further distort and conceal the person's identity.

Harry glanced over at Ahsoka before he shrugged slightly and turned back to the figure "She's a friend, unrelated to our business. What's the pass phrase?"

The figure's eyes narrowed slightly in response "Ah yes, I received your message and decoded it. It said that is how you'd recognize me. I'm not sure I have this right… _'Draco Dormiens Nunquam Titillandus'_."

Harry relaxed after a moment, "That's right." He leaned back in the booth, and put his arm over the back, consequently over Ahsoka's shoulders.

"Interesting pass-phrase," The hacker commented. "I couldn't get it translated."

"It's in a language that no one currently out amongst the stars in this galaxy should speak and translating would not be simple, at least not without a lot of time and effort. It would actually take tracking a single language back to it's roots, though no one seems to know what those roots constitute of. Perfect for a challenge question," he shrugged lithely.

Harry reached across the table with his free hand and placed a package in the exact center which none present had noticed was in his hand up to that instant.

Ahsoka, barely schooled her feature when she felt the tiniest disturbance in the Force when her eyes finally 'noticed' the package. The package was off the table in an instant and opened up by the hacker quickly, inside was a datapad.

The figure they were speaking to was already hooking up their own much more complicated datapad to the small one that had been in the box. The figure's eyes were flicking over it's own datapad quickly. "Once I verify that this is what I demanded. I believe our business is concluded."

Harry shook his head, "Not quite."

The figure stiffened and looked up from the datapad, a hand diving into his robes, clearly for the reassurance of a blaster.

Harry held one hand on the table, his fingers spread, the other open and palm facing the suddenly suspicious hacker.

Ahsoka felt another small burst from the Force, this one unfocused, and felt a calming influence spread to the unknown person across from her

She'd known Master Kenobi to be a master of that particular 'trick', but never had she seen anyone use it with such fine control that it was likely felt no further than the back of the being's seat opposite them.

Harry spoke quietly, his tone soothing, though firm. "Peace. Not a threat. An opportunity. I want to hire you."

The figure narrowed his or her eyes a moment, "And if I say I'm not interested?"

Harry frowned a moment, and then shrugged. "Then I thank you for your time and we go our separate ways. I heard you were the best, that's why I asked to do delivery on this particular job."

"I was curious as to why he trusted someone new with this delivery, it would have been quite costly to replace if you failed to deliver it." The figure said.

"He owed me a favor, and mentioned the task in passing. I just took the opportunity." Harry shrugged. "I don't make promises I can't keep and I promised to deliver it to you. Free of charge, in fact, just for the opportunity to talk with you."

The figure regarded him for a moment. Before the eyes flicked back to the datapad, and a few moments later seemed very satisfied with what was found there. The figure disconnected the datapad and turned it's eyes to stare at Harry for nearly a minute.

Then the figure seemed to shake slightly in amusement. The mirth came through even through the voice modulator. "Okay. You delivered as promised. I'll bite. What is it you want to hire me for?"

Harry shrugged slightly and with a movement of his fingers slid a data card onto the table. The cloaked figure once more looked down but this time didn't pick up the card.

Reading the suspicious look on the being's eyes Harry explained. "A simple information search. I'm basically trying to find if any of the people or items named or described on that card existed historically or not. I have exhausted every other avenue I can think of, at least alone."

The figure's eyes reflected puzzlement before it tilted it's head in obvious curiosity. "Historically? What system? How long ago? What kind of timeframe?"

"I don't know." Harry shrugged, "I can't even provide a system or a starting point for you. Truth be told I can't even confirm that any of them actually do exist. I mean historically or presently. It's completely open ended."

The hacker tilted their head slightly. "That's… not very much to go on. How much is this information worth to you?"

Harry paused a moment, "Depends on what you find. On the card is an account with 30,000 creds simply for accepting. Sight unseen. You find any information on any of the people, terms or artifacts listed especially if they dovetail with any circumstances listed and it's an additional 10,000 credits. Even if that information is considered merely myths or legends on a planet."

Harry tapped his finger on the table. "There's one name with descriptive details on there that's highlighted above the rest. You find information on him, where he lived or died, or even any unverified legends that matched the descriptions I provided. Any bit of information at all and there's 40,000 additional creds on top of the rest."

Ahsoka was surprised, she had no idea what specifically Harry was looking for. He hadn't volunteered that. She could tell he was reluctant to talk about it, and she hadn't really asked though now she was very curious.

The hacker frowned a bit and it's hand flicked forward to swipe the datacard, plugging it into the datapad thoughtfully. After a moment the figure began to scroll through the information on the card, eyes flickering rapidly over the information, tapping the datapad occasionally.

Harry just watched, letting the hacker look over the file without comment, his expression relaxed and unperturbed at the silence. Though Ahsoka's eyes kept glancing back and forth between the two of them.

"That's quite an extensive list of terms, people and objects you've left me. But… there's no context, no planet of origin or anything. Very curious," The hacker said intrigued. "And which one is the one that you said you'd pay the 40,000 for?"

"It's the one at the top. The rest are mostly curiosity on my part more than anything. But any information that at all relates to him, and the money is yours." Harry nodded his head at the datapad for emphasis.

"And if I find out he's alive?" The hacker asked almost offhandedly, curiosity in the modulated voice.

Ahsoka saw a look of pure surprise on Harry's face. As if he hadn't even considered that possibility before. After he got over his surprise, that looked blended into a look more intense than any expression she had seen on Harry's face before.

"You find him alive and can provide a location for him, I'll give you 500,000 credits." Harry said intently.

The hacker met his expression for several seconds before replying slowly "That's an awful lot of money for someone who might not even exist."

Harry seemed to relax and shrugged a little bit and chuckled, "Perhaps, it wouldn't be the first fool's errand I've been on in my life. If it is, it probably won't be the last."

The hacker frowned a little bit, sliding the datapad off the table and depositing it in his robes. "I'll poke around and see what I can find. But I have to say, if I find him… or any of them, I doubt you'll manage to collect. Especially if you continue with the company you keep."

Harry just tilted his head curiously.

The hacker hesitated a moment before it's voice dropped to a near whisper while it jerked its head slightly at Ahsoka. "The word is out on the… former Jedi. Bounty on her is sky high. Every two bit bounty hunter in the area has been watching for her, and is now in or around this bar. I almost left the instant I saw her sitting with you, but this is one of the bars considered neutral territory. So I'm as safe as possible."

Ahsoka's eyes widened as she looked around furtively as if she could tell who was who, but her gaze fell on Harry who hadn't looked away from the hacker, nor did he seem at all surprised by the information.

"Those are mostly just the two-bit ones, or the overly ambitious. The good ones are already back at your ship. That's how they knew you'd landed, the word was out on your method of arrival. If you want to remain inconspicuous in the future, you may want to change that. Red and gold, called the Gryffindor. Very distinctive." The hacker said.

"I like my ship." Harry replied with a small smile and an easy shrug.

"That's a shame, because I doubt it'll ever fly again. If it's not already blown up, then the bounty hunters there have already rigged it to explode." The hacker replied. "They really want the amount on the head of the former Jedi. They aren't even paying lip service to your guild code."

"I'll take my chances. My mechanic is the protective sort. I highly doubt my ship's going to be rigged to explode with him on the job," Harry replied with a small smile, making no comment about the fact that the hacker had identified him as a bounty hunter.

Ahsoka realized that the slicer had probably dug up what he could on Harry before showing up to the meeting in the first place, especially as whoever Harry was acting as a courier for clearly used someone different for this exchange.

"The price on her head is high enough to convince bounty hunters to work together to get the price." The hacker commented.

"Before they all betray one another hoping to secure the bounty solely for themselves," Harry interjected with bland disinterest.

"Of course," The slicer replied. "My point is that you might want to warn your mechanic to get out of there before he gets himself killed."

"Dobby will be fine. It's the bounty hunters that ought to be concerned. Especially when he's feeling protective." Harry grinned slightly and shook his head. "He can be a little overzealous sometimes."

The hacker regarded him silently for several moments before nodding slowly. "You may be confident, but be careful. Even the good ones may be a bit desperate. They're hoping to beat Cad Bane to the prize. It also seems that Aurra Sing was somehow… sprung from the tomb that the Jedi's poster-child Twi'lek managed to bury her in. She's supposedly around here as well." The hacker said, the modulated voice flat and very soft, barely reaching their ears.

"Sing is Force-sensitive," Ahsoka whispered. There was actually a fair amount of concern that spread through her, which she ruthlessly used mental exercises provided by the Order to squash.

Cad Bane and Aurra Sing were notorious Bounty Hunters, not just because of how much destruction they caused in order to capture their targets, but for how they repeatedly and had successfully targeted the Jedi Order. Cad Bane had gotten the best of Ahsoka more than once and it was only through the intervention of her Master that she was still alive. That caused her eyes to flick toward Harry instinctively.

Harry's voice was calm, and filled with assurance as he glanced at her, "Relax. I knew they'd made us before we stepped into the bar. They're not going to get you. I can't have a student for less than a week, I'd be a worse teacher than Snape ever was."

"I hope you have a backup way to get off the planet. Your ship is a lost cause. Even if you dump the Jedi, there's no way they'd let you get to it." The hacker said. "And if you did, they've probably got it rigged to blow."

Harry shook his head slightly. "Trust me, my ship is safe. Anyone tries to damage it and… I foresee it ending poorly for them." The hacker raised it's eyebrow at that but didn't comment on it.

Harry's attention once more locked on to the slicer. "Thank you for the information on the bigger names and about those that we'll find back at or around our ship. An additional 20,000 will be in the account on that data card within 48 hours. It's yours." The slicer widened their eyes slightly and then nodded.

"You should probably head out before us. Don't want you getting caught in the cross-fire if some moron decides to get an itchy trigger finger in here," added Harry as his eyes flicked toward the bar once and narrowed slightly.

"Pleasure doing business with you. I'll be in touch if I find anything. Assuming you survive," The hacker got up without preamble and departed the table without another word.

After a few moments silence, where Ahsoka did her best to not stare around the room and gauge the threat levels of the now known bounty hunters that were present, she had a sudden thought.

Now that she was aware of it she could spot several of one of the ones who were trying and failing to be circumspect about watching their table. Of course now that she saw it, it seemed like _everyone_ who's head moved or eyes glanced in their vicinity were sizing them, and more specifically her, up for targets.

Harry seemed to be pondering something as he spun a gold coin on the table, his eyes looking thoughtful, clearly he wasn't going to rush right out of the bar.

She pushed down the fear inside of her, knowing that panicking and fleeing wasn't going to do her any good. Besides she had curiosity she wanted to appease. "Just where in the name of the Force did you get the kind of cred where you can throw it around like that?" She asked as her eyes flicked around nervously watching anyone who even stepped in the direction of their table.

Harry just waved his hands noncommittally, and she noticed through small surges in the Force that he used the opportunity to cast more 'spells'. "When I left my world, I brought quite a few commodities that turned out to be _very _valuable to the galaxy at large. You'd be amazed at what sells. And I've only gotten more of it since I started my travels. Money will never be an issue for me, unless I decide to buy a few planets or something. Of the vacation and resort class specifically."

She really wanted to inquire more deeply into that, as well as get more information on the why and how he left his homeworld, which he still hadn't told her, but they had more important things to worry about. Her voice dropped. "Its not going to be easy to get out of here."

He looked at her incredulously for a moment and then grinned as he stroked a hand over his jaw slowly, as if stroking a beard, "Of course it can be… just a matter of how many casualties there should be. Both in terms of buildings and lives."

Ahsoka's reaction was shocked at the statement as much as the idea.

"You really are crimpin my style, girl," he said noticing her expression and gave a mock pout. "Also you don't have to whisper like we're a couple of teenagers at the movies. I have a spell around which will stop all ranged surveillance, and I used a benign wild magic spell earlier which would have shorted out any electrical bugs that anyone might have placed here ahead of time." His expression still looked thoughtful and his thoughts far away. He was still turning over the hacker's words in his mind.

She blinked and then nodded, she was working past being shocked by magic, and what he claimed or proved it could do. "I really wish I had my lightsaber."

Harry nodded almost absently, "We can work on that once we get to Kashyyyk. Wookies are great at having random bits of technology around."

"The problem isn't actually the parts. You probably have the spare parts to make most of one on your ship." Harry looked at her and squinted as if trying to figure out why she didn't just make the lightsaber then, so she expanded slightly. "The problem is the crystal used for the lightsaber's focusing gem. I don't have access to one. And I really don't want to synth one up."

Harry tilted his head curiously "Why not?"

Ahsoka twitched at that idea, and wondered at the sense of discussing this now. Harry seemed to be forgetting the imminent danger they were in. It appeared to be a habit of his, finding something he was interested in and he got distracted from everything else around him.

"Most synth'd crystals are red." Ahsoka stated plainly as if that would explain everything.

Of course, Harry looked at her blankly. "So?"

Ahsoka sighed and rolled her eyes slightly. "Well _Master_, those red crystals make the blade of the lightsaber red. And a red lightsaber is almost always a sign of following the Dark Side."

Harry gave Ahsoka an odd look at that before he frowned indignantly. "But... what if I was a Jedi and I liked red?"

Ahsoka laughed softly and shook her head, assuming he was joking. "Then you'd mostly be out of luck."

Harry however looked horrified at that. "But… I'm a Gryffindor for crying out loud. I've seen blue lightsabers. Is that the only option Jedi get?"

Ahsoka frowned. Liking the color of the blade? she hadn't really thought about that sort of thing before. "Well, most Jedi blades are blue… or green. Mine was green."

Harry looked horrified again. "My… options are blue and green? Seriously?" When Ahsoka nodded, Harry's eyes narrowed. "Are you sure that it wasn't being stuck with those colors that caused some people to join the Sith?"

"W...what?" Ahsoka looked flabbergasted, his question sounding ridiculous.

"Seriously, it would be a heck of a recruiting pitch. 'Come join us. You get a red lightsaber!' I can just see some poor Jedi with a distaste for green and blue getting to the part where they get a lightsaber and going 'Well… my options are… blue or green. Or I could go evil. They have red. Tough choice. Hmm. You know.. if the Sith throw in some cookies and they've got a deal.'" Harry's expression was very serious as he described the scenario.

His seriousness almost caused Ahsoka to break out in giggles, before looking affronted. "What's wrong with green or blue _Master_?"

Harry sighed and rolled his eyes theatrically. "Look at me! I couldn't possibly use _green_. I refuse to walk around with with that color, the snake color scheme always irritated me. And the first time someone mentioned it matching my eyes, I'd be guilty of justifiable homicide."

"As for blue, it's right out. I was always told that it made me look sickly, and my best mate would have told you it was only for Ravenclaws who might not be able to recognize what sunlight was if someone came up, dragged them out of their book and threw them into the street." Harry said with a trace of irritation in his voice, though his eyes kept sweeping the room in slow sweeps before focusing back on her.

His eyes widened slightly, "And! And! What if someone was green and blue color blind? Wouldn't that be embarrassing? Thinking you're walking around with a green lightsaber and realizing it's actually blue, or worse, thinking your lightsaber is white only to have other Jedi snickering behind your back all because you have a bad case of color blindness!"

Ahsoka knew she was going to regret saying it, but couldn't help it. It was more out of morbid curiousity than anything else. "They are rare, but there are other colors too. Purple is used by a few Jedi."

Harry looked appalled at the concept, "Purple," he gasped, looking horrified, "What kind of _girly_ man has a purple sword?"

Ahsoka looked aghast, the mental image of a very less than pleased Master Windu floating through her mind. But Harry seemed to be completely unaware.

"Seriously! You go into battle and you're all intimidating and suddenly SNAPHISS OOOH everyone be all scared of my purpley blade! What kind of pansy Jedi chooses _purple?! _That hardly proclaims 'hey everyone don't mess with me!'" Harry rolled his eyes in disgust

"It more sends the message that 'hey! I'm nice and cuddly and don't mess with me or I'll scold you before I hug you!' Do his robes match the color of his saber? Because that totally sounds like some wizarding stupidity right there." Harry shook his head in disappointment, "I mean really, a Jedi might as well choose pink! It pretty much sends the same message"

"No, if I made a lightsaber, I'd want my blade to make everyone say, '_Oh shit, we shouldn't mess with that guy! He's a Bad Ass!_'" Harry tapped the gold coin on the table for emphasis.

However Ahsoka also felt that the Force slowly building up around him. Though outwardly Harry was giving no impression that he was doing anything but spinning a coin on the table and focusing on the argument.

Her own senses were screaming danger was coming, but even that wasn't enough for her to do anything but blink in astonishment at his next statement.

"Hell… I'll even have it engraved on the hilt. Bad Ass Mother Fucker. B.A.M.F.. That's me." Harry picked up the coin on the table and gave her a wink and a wide, toothy grin. The cheesiest image she could imagine was completed when he pointed at her and gave her two thumbs up.

Ahsoka didn't even have time to gape at him for the sheer lunacy of every statement that had just sprung forth from his mouth. She didn't even immediately notice the group of five heavily armed people that had entered the bar only a minute or so earlier and were now headed directly toward their table.

However just as she noticed them, and the way their direction clearly showed them headed for a confrontation they stopped three tables away from Harry and Ahsoka.

She once again felt a wash of the force, and this time she recognized it as the same Mind Trick that Harry had used on the Bartender back on Coruscant. This one was not nearly as focused though, and if she didn't know better, she would have thought that nearly everyone in the bar besides her had been hit with it.

The group of five made no effort at being silent as the loud man growled at the table he was facing. "Alright, you're coming with us! we'll have the bounty on your head!"

There was a surprised gasp and then a loud growl in response, that cut through nearly all the noise of the bar and was heard by everyone. "My tally is low, and my Goddess will surely rejoice when I restart my count with you, _Human_, if you don't leave." The voice practically spat the word human and had a hiss throughout the entire statement.

Ahsoka stiffened, she knew that voice. She had helped put that voice behind bars. Though, in the end she realized that she shouldn't be surprised. If Aurra Sing was somehow out of prison, then why should the Trandoshan bounty hunter Bossk be any different?

At just that moment, Ahsoka felt a disturbance in the Force that was even larger than it had been when Harry healed the bartender. Or, more accurately, she felt a tremor as a tidal wave of Force washed over her. Though nothing happened until a second later when she felt several rapid fire echoes of activity that occurred all over the establishment.

All at once, there were screams from all over the bar as every cup or piece of flatware to hold liquid was gone. In their places were small figures, no more than a foot tall.

The patrons as one seemed to all stare at the newly arrived beings in shock. The newly arrived beings stared back for nearly 5 seconds. Then almost as one one they all screamed "Mogwaiiii!" in high pitched little voices and immediately leapt on the patron closest to them, some of the newly created beings took a moment to grab a piece of silverware to use as melee weapons.

Ahsoka only had a moment to be shocked before Harry pulled her down under the table with a jerk. She was about to say something but she saw the lines of stress on his face while he waved his wand around under the table, slowly in small circles before flicking it in specific directions rapidly and felt several more disturbances in the Force.

This time the 'noise' she felt was more powerful, though there were fewer of them. She saw Harry's eyes closed as he focused in concentration. He seemed no longer aware of her presence for the moment, and she felt like she was practically bathing in the Force, though she wondered how far away this would be noticeable.

His eyes opened, and this time she was looking directly at him and saw his emerald eyes were literally glowing with power in the Force. It was entrancing, and she found she couldn't look away. She missed as suddenly every chair in the bar turned into a monkey. Monkeys which wasted no time as they added to the chaos that already engulfed the bar as they instantly began to mimic the gremlins.

A moment later, the monkeys were followed by a few of the tables turning into large felines that roared loudly and added to the chaos. There were screams all over the bar

Harry slumped slightly, and put a hand to his head. "Been awhile since I've done that." he muttered.

He wasn't magically exhausted, but he had just done a lot of transfigurations without direct line of sight, simultaneously. It required an extreme amount of concentration and focus, and gave him a bit of a headache.

He shook it off and ignored the minor headache he had just given himself and then grinned at Ahsoka. He turned to the booth wall and with a gesture of his wand, transfigured a small section of the wall to paper, and pushed Ahsoka through easily, which caused her to emit a soft squeak of surprise.

A quick _reparo_ and a transfiguration back from paper to the same material of the wall and their escape was completely hidden from anyone who might try and check later.

They could hear blaster fire begin and screams from the bar still going on. Harry turned, ignoring the screaming and gestured away from the bar. They could see passerby's all streaming toward the entrance in curiosity, or away from the bar where there were multiple blasters going off.

Ahsoka hesitated for only a moment before falling into step with him as the two walked away. She was chewing on her bottom lip as she processed what had just happened. She had spent the past two days in to discussion and learning with Harry. She had seen all different sorts of magic that she could never have imagined.

She was less shocked by the specifics of what he had done in the bar. She had seen him perform transfiguration before. He had changed a datapad into a cat as a demonstration. It was more the _scale_ of what he had done in the bar. Making it descend into chaos, and getting out of there without directly attacking or confronting anyone.

It was definitely not the method of responding to a crisis she was used to. Obi-Wan may have used some tactics to get out of a situation like that… maybe. But SkyGuy, he would've done one of two things.

He would have either used his intimidating aura that seemed to come so naturally to him. Intimidating people so only the bravest or most foolhardy would attempt to go against him. That would have maybe caused some to back down.

Of course in this case, when that inevitably didn't work he would have leapt feet first into the debacle, not a thought or fear in the galaxy that he wouldn't make it through the ordeal in anything other than one piece, despite dozens of blasters pointed his way.

Simple _leaving_ and letting the people looking to cause problems deal with the chaos left in their wake as they departed would've likely never occurred to Anakin.

But there was one thing that the two had in common. Confidence. But even there it was different. Anakin practically screamed confidence, and assurance and Ahsoka knew that more than once other masters had accused him of arrogance. She had been accused of the same thing, and knew that her own arrogance had in fact caused problems in the past.

Harry was no less confident in himself. But unlike Anakin he didn't seem to care if he projected it or not. He didn't seem constantly worried about the image he presented or the need to seem in control and garner respect from everyone. Harry honestly seemed completely apathetic. Even from a few days exposure to her, he was more than willing to share stories that poked fun at himself as much as anyone else, and did so without a care in the galaxy.

Despite the differences in the way it was presented, the utter confidence in themselves, and their use of the Force… or in Harry's case, Magic. Like they knew it wouldn't fail them.

When Harry had told her to relax, that the bounty hunters literally surrounded weren't going to get her, she had done just that. There was such assurance in his voice. There was no strain, no panic, no worried looks around as he plotted. He simply assured her that it would not happen as if any other outcome was not only unthinkable, it was impossible.

Harry flicked up a strong notice me not charm on the two of them as they walked, his voice was amused, though he looked a bit tired. "Well, that was fun. I thought _I_ was a trouble magnet. How many people have you pissed off, girl?"

Ahsoka looked somewhat abashed as, for a moment, she was somewhat concerned that Harry might consider her too much trouble, but then she discarded that. He had twice gotten her out of trouble, three times if she counted the two Masters. And he had never once seemed like he was having second thoughts about her. His tone was teasing and a smile quirked the corner of his lips.

She frowned a little bit, still looking around as they got further away from the bar "Um, more than a few… I can explain more detail later if you want, but what are we going to do about your ship?"

Harry tilted his head as they walked, "What about my ship?"

"That guy we met with, the slicer. He said they were already at the ship." Ahsoka replied looking around as casually as she could

Harry snorted slightly, "I knew that. Hell, several entered the hangar before we made it to the bar."

"How did you know that?" Ahsoka asked before she could stop herself but she held up her hand to keep him from replying, "Wait, let me guess… magic?"

Harry grinned, pleased. "Exactly, we haven't even gotten to a discussion on wards or protections yet. But their attention was on us from the minute we came into the system."

"How did they know?" Ahsoka asked, though a feeling of dread was in the pit of her stomach.

"How do you think? There should have been only one group of people that _knew _you were on that ship or could infer it," Harry said, though he didn't sound really upset or perturbed by the idea of what he was saying, it was more a matter of fact statement.

"The Jedi wouldn't have told people where I was going! Certainly not bounty hunters!" Ahsoka said, sounding affronted. She wasn't willing to believe the Jedi Order had fallen that far.

"I don't know that I can say I think the same thing. But they wouldn't necessarily have to have told anyone. The Jedi could be currently being spied upon, or could have a leak." Harry shrugged a bit. "Not exactly uncommon in politics, religious organizations, or law enforcement, all three of which are lines that the Order straddles with some frequency."

Ahsoka lapsed into silence at that, unable to deny the truth of that statement.

Harry chuckled, "I do know, that if I hadn't surrounded us in a notice-me-not charm from the moment we left the ship, we never would have made it to the bar at all."

"Notice-me-not…." Ahsoka frowned and then tilted her head, "Another one of those spells that does exactly what it says?" She asked.

Harry nodded, looking pleased. "It keeps people from paying attention to you, from noticing you in the first place. I couldn't keep it up in the bar, because I needed to meet the contact. And it would have failed miserably once we were there with so many eyes on us."

Ahsoka frowned and shook her head slightly, refocusing on her initial question. "So what are we going to do about the ship?"

Harry shrugged, "Hope there's not too much of a mess to clean up? Dobby doesn't like intruders."

Ahsoka frowned, "Your mysterious cook and mechanic who I have yet to see so you can prove he's just not a figment of your imagination?"

Harry laughed a little bit an amused smirk crossing his face though he didn't reply.

Ahsoka frowned again, she had only thought she _may _have glimpsed him once or twice out of the corner of her eyes moving about the ship. Every time she went to investigate she couldn't find him. She even thought she glimpsed a small figure going into a small store room. She had followed quickly after, and hadn't taken her eyes off the door, but somehow he had disappeared from the room.

She had looked through the engines which were well-maintained, if not overly impressive. She couldn't deny that she felt she was being watched but for the life of her she had only found the white bird, and the droid. Harry's ship was small there shouldn't have been a way or space for someone to hide.

Yet meals had been ready and appeared with regularity. She had asked and Harry just chuckled and said Dobby makes his own decisions. She had begun to think he was just a hoax

"Where are we going? The ship is in the other direction?" She asked suddenly, realizing where they were headed.

"I'm hungry and figured and there's a vendor that sells the best berry tarts. I'm not sure what's in them or what type of berry, but it's good." Harry replied cheerily.

Ahsoka shook her head slightly, "Shouldn't we head out at soon as possible?"

Harry shrugged indifferently "They knew we were here, when no one reports seeing us at the ship they'll assume we've gone into hiding and start to search Nar Shaddaa in addition to staking out the ship. If things get really bad Dobby will activate the intent wards."

Ahsoka blinked at the response, not truly understanding what would keep them safe, nor Harry's logic in how the bounty hunter's would respond. She had to keep herself from looking furtively side to side as anyone who turned their direction even briefly, Ahsoka imagined following and plotting against them.

Harry certainly saw the look on her face, but apparently it wasn't enough to deter him from his newly made plans. "Come now, 'Berry Surprise' awaits!"

Not for the last time did Ahsoka wonder about the sanity of the person she had fallen in with.

oOooOoOOoOooOo

**Author's Notes - **

**Kat: Hey all! Another update O_O HOLY CRAP. **

**Probably not quite as funny as the previous chapters. That's okay! We needed some world building and lay some plot lines for the future. **

**Yes. I stole the gremlins pretty much entirely from Runemaster. Quite obviously… I have the author's approval since HE IS CO-AUTHORING THE STORY WITH ME. **

**Bits and pieces of Harry's history begin to emerge. I'm doing something different this time and not doing massive exposition up front. You find more out about Harry as Ahsoka does. Though eventually Harry will explain. I'm curious if anyone figures it out before we get to it. **

**Plums:**

**A lot of people neglect to do true mass conjuration / transfiguration in their stories. Dumbledore negligently conjured enough sleeping bags in book three to provide the entirety of Hogwarts one to sleep in while they searched the castle after Sirius attacked the Fat Lady's portrait (if you assume the Elves didn't do it instead of him).**

**The bar scene is the kind of "warfare" I truly would expect wizards to be doing. An entire battlefield constantly turning on you and attacking, and not just bits of flashy lights firing back and forth in quick succession.**

**That was the main impetus behind that bar scene. True its similar to some of the fight's I know I've done in my Runemaster story, but its also how I really think a true transfiguration master like Dumbledore and McGonagall would've fought. I also believe someone truly wouldn't need "line of sight" to perform magic, which is why we have him doing spells and concentrating while crouched behind an upturned table. **

**Just my own personal views on how magic "should" behave… especially if we're combining it with something nebulous as "Da Force".**

**Kat: Plums is right. That's just a small taste of wizard warfare. We're going way past what you see in the HP movies. Since in most of the major battles all you see is them firing spells at one another and shielding. LAAAME!**

**Alternative chapter titles**

"**Only took me three chapters to get Ahsoka wet." - Harry Potter. **

"Ass." - Ahsoka

"**That time Harry Potter called Mace Windu a pansy and a girly man." - Ahsoka**

"... And I will strike down upon thee with great vengeance and furious anger those who attempt to poison and destroy my brothers!" - Samuel L. Jackson

"He wins."- Ahsoka

"We'll see." -Harry Potter.

"**The reason we never told our kids how Mommy and Daddy met." - Neville Longbottom.**

"You didn't have to. I did!" - Harry Potter.

"And you wonder why my grandmother hates you." - Neville.


	4. Inauspicious Meetings

**Chapter 4**

**Inauspicious Meetings**

Ahsoka was once more walking alongside Harry, this time down a side alley just outside the starport where the ship was docked. Enough time had passed that Harry felt it was appropriate to return to the ship and quietly leave the moon of Nar Shaddaa.

Prior to this sudden bout of uncharacteristic sanity, Harry had dragged Ahsoka along to a stand he was looking for and had gotten them each a berry tart. He was seemingly unconcerned with the danger they were in just by waltzing around the smuggler's moon.

He actually hadn't spoken very much since their departure from the bar until they'd ordered some food. Most of the trip, at least to Ahsoka's eyes, he seemed lost in his own thoughts, though not in the way that he zoned out, but more like he was turning something over in his mind while Ahsoka kept her gaze on him, concerned.

Whatever was on Harry's mind seemed to resolve itself after they left the vendor. Harry's stride was once more confident rather than distracted as they made their way back toward their ship.

Ahsoka was positive they had passed at least one group of bounty hunters staking out the entrances as they entered the area of the docking bays. The group didn't even look at them twice. Even though Harry and her had their hoods up, Ahsoka was surprised that their mere presence didn't attract more attention. Eventually she realized that Harry had used some more "notice-me-not" magic up that kept the groups from reacting.

In an effort to slip him out of his silence, that was bordering on brooding. Ahsoka had asked him to explain the magic behind the spell more fully. Harry went on to explain some of the finer beginning points of how it worked to her as they to walk at a leisurely pace back toward the docking bay.

Prior to their departure from the food stand, Harry had contacted Minnie about possibly getting a report of Ahsoka being sighted somewhere else. Minnie had come back with the surprised comment that that had already occurred, twice. There were reports of a Jedi showing up at the bar they had been at, where all the chaos had been well after they left and a brief skirmish in the same area.

However, there was also a report that the bounty hunters had blown up a Jedi fighter which had just landed. Harry rolled his eyes and muttered a comment aloud about stupid Jedi announcing their presence in a Republic Military vessel in Hutt Space that was currently in the middle of a galactic war.

Minnie had also momentarily worried them when she said she was monitoring another report of bounty hunters that were converging on Ahsoka, but they were put on ease when the protocol droid clarified that the spot they seemed to be converging on was nearly a quarter of the moon away, and happened because someone had reserved a hotel room under the name Ahsoka Tano.

Harry had frowned at the news, but Ahsoka had wondered out loud if the slicer that he had hired had done them a favor for the generous bonus. Harry immediately told Minne to add the additional 20k credits he had promised the slicer to the payment account he had set up before he forgot about it.

Almost two hours after they had escaped the chaos of the bar through a wall, they arrived back at the docking bay where they had left the Gryffindor. Harry was a few steps ahead headed down the path toward their ship's docking bay and stopped suddenly.

When Ahsoka stepped close she couldn't figure out why he had stopped. He explained quietly without her prompting him, "The intent wards on the ship are up… anyone intending to harm us or the ship will suddenly find themselves with other urgent errands to run."

"But Dobby was only supposed to activate those if they damaged the ship… or he was being overwhelmed somehow. I'm sure I would have felt that." Harry commented as he began walking again, this time his stride was quicker and much more purposeful toward their docking bay. He frowned as he approached the door to their hanger

It was clear something had happened, there was blaster scorches all around the door but the door appeared untouched at the moment. In fact it appeared practically brand new.

As they approached the door, a shadow separated itself from the doorway just meters from it. The shadow resolved itself into the figure of a humanoid in a black cloak, though the cloak was clearly muddied and torn.

"It's been a long night. Nothing you're selling could possibly interest me," Harry said, as the figured approached. Harry felt Ahsoka tense from beside him, her hand went to her belt instinctively and he heard her restrain her groan of frustration. The figure held up her hands showing that they were empty anyway, as well as revealing an extremely voluptuous female form underneath. But even the sight of half exposed breasts and skin-tight leather were enough at the moment to distract him from the safety of Dobby and his ship.

The figure hesitated and then pulled back the hood revealing a Twi'lek with blue skin and her head adorned with black-leather headgear. Her featured were marred by a slight burn mark on her cheek that was a testament to the fact that she'd certainly had her own rough night.

Harry blinked as his eyes flicked up and down the attractive Twi'lek, "Okay, I take that back. What you're selling _could_ interest me, but not at the moment. Sorry."

Ahsoka's expression which had turned to one of recognition, morphed to a combination of horror and shock at Harry's blunt statement. The Twi'lek didn't look much different, although more than a little indignation was added to the expression that crossed her face. Before she could overcome her initial shock and say anything in retort Harry continued.

"And if you're looking for the Twi'lek dancing auditions, I think we passed the docking bay running that scam a few minutes back. Thought you might want to get cleaned up a bit. Your body's smoking, but the whole 'just escaped from a burning junk yard' chic look you've got going on probably isn't most people's thing." He said as he looked up and down her once more.

"Dirty clothes aren't likely to help you land a gig," Harry summed up then looked away dismissively, and proceeded to ignore her as he passed her and approached the door of the hangar tossing over his shoulder as he went. "Although it might get you kidnapped and sold either way, if that was your goal to begin with."

"_Harry_!" Ahsoka gasped, once her powers of speech had returned.

She had seen him being irreverent and disrespectful to the Jedi who had irritated them back on Coruscant, but those Jedi had been antagonistic towards him. Both of them had taken issue with her turning her back on the Order, and that was further compounded by an old grudge one of them held with her master. This behavior surprised her though. She hadn't seen him blatantly insult someone for almost no reason before.

"Hmm?" Harry replied absently as he put his hand on the door and felt the magic recognize him. He realized that the entire door had been repaired magically. He wondered how damaged it had been by those who forced the issue if it had required efforts like this from Dobby.

"This is … she is… you just… this is Master Aayla Secura!" Ahsoka sputtered.

Ahsoka's comment was rather loud, and the Jedi Master looked around furtively, but there was no one was around to hear the exclamation in sight. Her hand dropped to her lightsaber as she waited for any reaction. Finally, when she was assured that there were no further Bounty Hunters in the immediate vicinity, she said, "We shouldn't talk out here. This entire place is in an uproar."

"Oh… so not selling... _anything_ and not looking for phony dancing auditions?" Harry asked blandly, looking back at her briefly.

Aayla Secura fixed Harry with a glare as he pushed open the door. He winked unashamedly and gave a jaunty wave back just before he stepped through the door, not giving her time for a stuttering reply.

Ahsoka turned to Aayla to apologize, but before she could say anything, Harry's shouted voice emerged from the door he had just stepped through. "Merlin blast it!"

Ahsoka rushed in right after Harry, only to be stopped almost immediately. The utter disbelief at the sight before her made her forget almost all other thoughts and rooted her to the spot, although she was shoved forward slightly when Master Secura followed quickly on her heels and stumbled into her.. Both of them could do little more than gasp in shock as they looked around at the unnatural chaos before them.

The hangar resembled a house of horrors. There were bodies all over the docking bay. Some laying over packing crates or behind pillars. Some slumped against the wall, and there was a chest high pile of bodies stacked up on the ground. The bodies encompassed species of all sorts, human, trandoshan, gamorrean, duros, aquilish, twi'lek, sullustan and rodian were just the ones Ahsoka was able to identify.

All of the bodies were completely naked.

Ahsoka and Aayla could only stare in a dumbfounded manner as they looked around and tried to come to grips with what their eyes were telling them.

Harry had his head bowed. His eyes were closed while he rubbed his forehead slowly, all while he slowly counted down from fifty...

"DOOOBBBBY!" Harry finally cried out, the exasperation in his voice easy to hear.

There was a hesitation and then a small snap. Out of nowhere, a small being appeared with pointed ears and dressed in overalls. He was wearing three different types of goggles on his head and holding a hydro-spanner. His sudden appearance caused both Ahsoka and Aayla to jerk in surprise, though Aayla's reaction was far worse, as she had yet to experience someone popping in nearby via teleportation.

"Yes, Master Harry Potter, sir!" the house elf asked as he practically bounced, looking far too chipper for any being.

Harry groaned again, hearing the being call him Master. "Dobby, what happened to just calling me Harry?"

"Miss Soaky gets to call Harry Potter Master, then Dobby can start calling him Master again. Master Harry Potter says that Dobby shouldn't be the only one to call him that. But now Dobby isn't, so Dobby can say Master again!" The little house elf rambled brightly, while indicating Ahsoka with he hydrospanner he carried.

Harry shoot Ahsoka a glare that promised retribution in the future before he closed his eyes and once more counted to fifty in his head before he began to speak very slowly, with a forced calm that kept his voice level. "Dobby. I give you very few rules. What was the first rule I told you about nudity?"

"Dobby is never to undress Master Harry Potter for him while he is sleeping." Dobby dutifully replied, looking even more proud of himself for reciting it.

Harry sighed, and visibly twitched as he did so. That had happened only once. It had creeped him the hell out. He had been very blunt in laying down the law the next day with the House Elf so that there was never a repetition of it.

Aayla was just watching the nearly surreal interaction, surrounded by naked bodies. She had no frame of reference for how to act in a situation like this, and had no idea where to mentally start cataloging what was wrong with the sights before her.

Ahsoka wasn't much better, as she certainly wasn't prepared for the naked bodies, but she was able to focus a bit more as she finally saw the elusive Dobby for the first time since she boarded the Gryffindor, despite multiple attempts at tracking the tiny creature.

"Okay, yes, Dobby. That was the first rule. What was the _second _most important rule that concerns naked people?" Harry asked in that same forced calm voice.

Dobby frowned. "That Dobby was not to strip people down for punishment."

Harry nodded and then gestured to the pile of bodies with a violent wave of his hand as the forced composure in his voice almost broke, "Care to explain these?"

Dobby only looked a little bit abashed, "Great Master Harry Potter say if people damaged Master or Master's things, only the rule about staying safe remained in effect."

Harry looked up at the ship with a raised eyebrow. "It looks pristine to me. The Corinthian paint job doesn't even look damaged."

After a few moments of examination, Harry mentally corrected himself. Unbreakable charms might have had something to do with the lack of visible damage. He continued to survey the ship with a practiced eye. Still, Dobby was rarely wrong about anything to do with the ship.

Harry, despite himself, was actually a bit surprised. Despite all the years he was with Dobby, occasionally something 'new' revealed itself, which was an ever-present reminder to the wizard that he didn't know everything in the universe. Despite voicing his doubts, he trusted Dobby implicitly, which meant if Dobby said there was something wrong, then there was something wrong.

Ultimately, Harry chalked it up to being yet another quirk of the House Elf's makeup, and that his friend's awareness of the ship was very much like his awareness of the status of any of Harry's homes. They seemed to know what was wrong and where things needed to be fixed, or things that might be about to go wrong. It made Dobby an amazingly effective mechanic.

"What did they damage, Dobby?" he eventually asked in a pained voice.

Dobby pointed at a pile of armor, weapons, clothes and other pieces of equipment. "Dobby left bad men alone at first. Bad men couldn't get in ship. Then bad men's attach something to hull. Dobby hears big boom and flash and strange blue lights all over ship.. Blue light did something to ship's computer. Metal Minnie say that ship's computer no longer working."

Harry blinked in surprise as he almost instantaneously translated what Dobby was saying and then scowled. He hadn't seen a device do that before, at least not one used by a group of mercs attempting to board a ship, though he had some ideas of what it might be from rumors he had heard of the more advanced weaponry being used in the current war.

"Can you fix it?" he asked.

Dobby's ears drooped and he shook his head, while tugging on his ears. "Is not _broken _broken, it just will not turn on."

"That's your mechanic?" Ahsoka asked in disbelief, finally managing to find her voice. Distantly she wondered if it had truly been only a few minutes ago that she thought she was used to Harry's quirks enough not to be surprised much anymore.

Dobby looked past Harry at Ahsoka and thrust his chest out proudly "Dobby is good mechanic! Dobby heard Miss Soaky say she could help fix things on ship, but Dobby is the best mechanic for Great Master Harry Potter!"

The last part was said with an almost defensively shout as his features fixed in a scowl. Ahsoka though, didn't even pay attention to the green being questioning her skills with starships. She had firmly latched on to the nickname that the being had apparently created for her.

"Miss Soaky?" she parroted, this time looking to Harry for an explanation, only now he seemed a trifle amused.

Harry smirked a little bit. "Dobby chooses his own names. Trust me… it could be a lot worse."

Ahsoka narrowed her eyes and then returned Harry's smirk with one of her own. It was rare she received a chance to needle Harry that was as gift-wrapped and presented on a platter as Dobby had just provided.

"So… I assume there's a story behind, the 'Great Master Harry Potter'?"

Harry grimaced and held up his hand as he realized this joke had been turned around on him. "Please… _please_ don't get him started. You can always talk to him later."

He glanced around the docking bay once more before he raised his voice. "Minnie!"

There was a few seconds pause and then a slight hiss as a hatch near the cockpit opened. The odd looking protocol droid that Harry owned pushed it's torso out, but came no further as it was several meters to the ground. "Yes, Mr. Potter?" The robot asked.

"How bad is the ship's computer, Minnie?" Harry asked, irritation leaking through his voice.

"Nothing is broken, Mr. Potter. Everything just seemed to be erased. All maintenance algorithms, navigational charts, and even basic functions and diagnostics seem to have been wiped. It works… as in it turns on, but it doesn't know how to do anything else. Only manual functions are operational at the moment. I suspect that we have even much at our disposal only because of the… _unique _modifications you've made to the ship." The droid replied dutifully.

"It sounds like they hit it with some sort of… ionic charge to short everything out," Ahsoka said as she moved forward towards the ship while in thought. She turned suddenly to Harry, "If they erased your ship's computer then you'll need everything, an R2 unit can get you navigational charts and basic functionality, but getting your ship working will require an entirely new computer, or at least installation package."

Harry sighed visibly, "An ion charge. I knew that kind of attack sounded familiar. Bloody fantastic. That will take a few hours to fix."

His irritated gaze fell on the pile of stunned bodies before he quickly looked away and began to pace. Ahsoka could see the irritation on his face as he walked to and fro. The problem seemed simple enough to her at least. The only question in her mind was whether they could fix it and leave before some bounty hunter got lucky and figured out a way around whatever magical protections Harry had thrown up to protect them. Eventually, something resolved in Harry's mind, because he suddenly looked quite thoughtful and began to speak, more to himself than her or Aayla, who he was still dutifully ignoring.

"Okay, I would assume one of these idiots owns a ship. Probably several of them, right? Unless they were pirates on a bloody big ship." he asked rhetorically. Then he continued on without waiting for an answer

"So, here's what we're going to do," he said as he turned his attention squarely to Ahsoka.

"I'm going to put a stronger ward up to protect the ship and surrounding area. No one's getting through here while I've got that up. Then, we're going to toss each of these bozo's in my brig, and turn them over to the wookiees when we get to our next stop. If any of them have bounties, great. If not then the wookiees can decide on what to do with them."

Harry chuckled softly, and Ahsoka had to think very little to guess what Harry was imagining. Wookiees weren't the biggest fan of pirates and the bounty hunters and pirates in the bay would likely spend several years regretting their career choices before they were freed.

Of course there was always the possibility that they wouldn't survive what the Wookiees did to them. The wookiees tended not to treat their prisoners with kid gloves.

"However, first thing's first! I am going to wherever they docked and take all their stuff from them." Harry rubbed his hands together. He completely ignored the way that Aayla's eyes narrowed at the confirmation of him outright stating he intended to commit a criminal act. In fact he seemed completely oblivious or apathetic to her presence entirely.

Ahsoka gawked at the convoluted and likely risky plan he came up with, "If you've got as much money as you claim, we could just buy a new computer from one of the local chop shops instead. We don't need to steal one of their computers to use. Uninstalling it from their ships and installing it in hours could take a day or two at least."

"Psh, who said anything about stealing one of their computers for me to use? I don't need to do that, I have a backup computer. It's just time-consuming and irritating to install it and reboot everything," Harry shook his head, "Nope, I'm feeling vindictive at the moment. They inconvenienced me, I'll... inconvenience them. It's like… galactic karma."

Ahsoka fixed Harry with a stare, which he met and then grinned unrepentantly. "Okay, so it's me being childish and petty! There are times I tend to think of them as the same thing."

He looked away from Ahsoka as his brain seemed to catch up with the fact that not only did they have another guest, but that the Twi'lek was currently standing there looking at him like he was insane and seemed to be experiencing complete brain lock.

His eyes locked on her, "And what's your story, Blue? I take it you're the dumb arse Jedi who actually attempted to land on Nar Shaddaa in a completely undisguised ship known to be used by Jedi, complete with Republic markings? Especially after someone seems to have declared open season on Jedi… or at least former Jedi."

Aayla glared at him balefully and bit her tongue for several seconds. Rather than get into some sort of back and forth or war of words with the man, she turned to Ahsoka "I was dispatched by the Council to Nar Shaddaa to investigate all the Bounty Hunter's converging here. When I landed my ship, I felt a disturbance in the Force. It was unlike anything I've ever felt before. So I went to investigate."

She then actually looked a bit chagrined, "I was a bit reckless in how quickly I left the ship, not checking to see that my arrival drew a lot more attention than I meant to."

Ahsoka listened closely with narrowed eyes, Harry's expression had gone blank a few moments after she started speaking.

"I was worried the hunters had found another Jedi mark to take down especially as I heard that Cad Bane was lingering about. I've lost enough Jedi brothers and sisters to that bastard. I followed my senses to a bar where there was… chaos," Aayla explained watching Harry.

With the shock of the presence of the naked bodies everywhere she just now realized that she couldn't sense him at all in the Force. The complete absence of what should have been both his Force and emotional presence was rather off-putting to her, and a massive distraction as well.

"Chaos?" Ahsoka asked, a brief smile crossing her face as she glanced at Harry's curiously unreadable expression.

"No one was dead, at least not yet... though a couple of people took blaster bolts… people were raving about monsters and wild animals and that someone somehow releasing a zoo inside the bar." She turned looked back and forth from Ahsoka to Harry, with suspicion clear on her face.

"Weird," he said, no attempt at all on his part made to make his confusion seem believable.

He was really tempted just to chuck the Jedi out of the docking bay. Harry was actually genuinely annoyed with the way she was talking to Ahsoka, like she needed to explain the situation in it's entirety as if the younger woman was still a child.

"By the time I got back to my ship, it was just a crater," Aayla said, irritation in her voice.

When that statement hung in the air for several seconds Harry shrugged slightly and looked entirely unsympathetic as he clapped his hands, "Right. Miss Tano. You said you could do a bit of maintenance. Can you hook up a ship's computer to a spare and do a reinstall with Minnie? I think Minnie's got a backup archive from only a few days ago. I tend to run them every other hyperspace jump or so. And Dobby is not supposed to touch the ship's computers unless necessary."

Ahsoka looked surprised at the forethought before she responded promptly, "Yeah, I can do that. It'll take a few hours though."

"That's fine," Harry chuckled softly. "Dobby! Ahsoka will be fixing the computer. You're job is to get these bounty hunters clothed again. And after Minnie scans them all for bounties, toss those that are worth something in the brig, stack the rest in the corner."

"In the meantime, Minnie will interrogate each of these arsewipes, find out where their ships are and then steal them." Harry stated with an amused grin, and a tone of finality.

"Yes, Master Harry Potter!" Dobby nodded earnestly and turned to look at the pile of people. He snapped his fingers once, and the people on the top of the pile began to float off.

"Your… mechanic can use the Force too?" Ahsoka asked, managing to keep her jaw from dropping.

"You mean he can use _magic,_" Harry said reprovingly, reminding Ahsoka once more that he thought of it completely differently than she did. "It's a little bit more complicated, but essentially the answer is yes. He is a being of magic."

"Magic?" Aayla blurted and turned to scowl at Ahsoka, "You've fallen in with a Force using bounty hunter… who thinks of the Force as magic?" Disbelief and more than a hint of condescension in her voice.

"Master Secura…" Ahsoka started only to be interrupted by Harry.

"Hey, Blue. Be quiet for a bit would you? You're pretty and all, but at the moment your ignorance is just annoying." He shook his head slightly, irritation in his voice. "And please note I'm being nice by assuming it's just ignorance. If it's not, then it's idiocy and that would mean you probably missed your calling as a dancer, or maybe bondage model for a holovid company. Intelligence not really required."

Aayla looked absolutely mortified at the accusation and couldn't even form words at the insults flung towards her. A response hadn't even formed yet in her mind when Harry began to speak again.

"So… just be quiet a bit would you?" Harry said as he flicked his finger at her. There was a slight surge of the Force, that caused Aayla to look around in confusion, but caused Ahsoka to narrow her eyes and stare at Aayla. Ahsoka knew that Harry had to have done something to the Jedi, but nothing was immediately visible.

At least until Aayla opened her mouth and began to talk back at him, but found that no sound managed to come out of her mouth. She frowned and tried several times to say something, anything. Her hands went to her throat instinctively.

Harry nodded looking satisfied and turned away to look back at his ship, only to then immediately turn back with his eyes closed. "_Dobby!_ Believe it or not, having them hanging in the air on display actually makes the whole nudity thing worse. Give them clothes! Now!"

"Yes, Master Harry," Dobby replied distractedly, though this time there was more than a little amusement in the small being's tone. There were small whispers both audibly and within the Force as Dobby fashioned undergarments on them in mid air.

Aayla paused in the middle of touching hands to her throat as she watched with wide-eyes as the undergarments appeared out of nowhere.

"Mister Potter, I have the list of bounties for you to review," The droid spoke up from where it had remained at the open hatch on the ship.

Harry shook his head and waved off the droid. He didn't have the time nor inclination to review each one. "That's okay, just pick the most expensive ones, and the ones we can deliver to a station on Kashyyyk and share it with Dobby. Then dose 'em with Veritaserum and get me the location of their ships."

"Harry, you didn't have to silence her," said Ahsoka as she gestured at the blue Twi'lek.

Harry turned away from the sight of Dobby floating body after body quickly past the droid's ocular scanners. The two were moving quickly, and bodies were already disappearing into the ship with soft pops.

He blinked a bit when he turned back and saw the Twi'lek with one hand on her hip, the other still touching her throat in disbelief. For just a moment Harry shook his head, as he was struck by a memory of more than one of the people he knew in his life in nearly that exact same pose.

Harry quickly shook himself from the memory. "Sure I did, she was about to get on her soapbox and start proclaiming about poor backward cultures still thinking of it as 'Magic'. Since, for some reason, it's more impressive and scientific calling it 'The Force'." Harry went so far as to do quotations in the air with his fingers when he called it that.

Ahsoka blushed a bit as she remembered saying the exact same thing to Harry not long after they met.

"A name, which doesn't have _any_ sort of 'power and subjugation' overtones _at all_." Harry added sarcastically as an afterthought before gesturing at the still silenced Twi'lek. "Also, while she's not as bad as you in the lying department, she's not exactly good at it either."

"Lying?" Ahsoka asked with a frown as she turned to look at the Jedi Master she had thought she could still call her friend through narrowed eyes. Aayla hadn't been part of the trial, judgement, or subsequent expulsion her from the Order.

Aayla was taken aback by the accusation and by Ahsoka's suspicious expression but was unable to formulate any sort of reply or retort while somehow unable to make a single sound.

Harry shrugged, "She was sent here for one of three reasons."

He began ticking off his fingers, "Option one, the Council of old idiots, you know, the sames ones that were going to murder you for P.R. points without anything but circumstantial proof, now wants you back. Option two, that same council wants for me to be brought in because I could make their week even worse in the court of public opinion with that holo I sent them."

"Or option three, they don't like someone who can do things with their precious 'Force' that they've never dreamed and they want to know how… likely before casting aspersions that I'm one of their big bad evil Sith boogeymen."

Harry turned his head and jerked his thumb towards Aayla, who could only stare at Harry while open-mouthed. "She's either a spy, kidnapper, or assassin."

"The first bounty hunters responded well to the Veritaserum, Master Harry." Harry's comlink chirped from his wrist, interrupting Harry from continuing, or Ahsoka from replying. "I have the coordinates of their ship berths and docking bays, as well as the codes to get past their security systems."

"What about the bounty hunters… Cad Bane and Aurra Sing? Were either of them present in that mess?" Harry asked after a few moments hesitation as he dragged the names of the bounty hunters the hacker gave him to the forefront of his mind.

"No sir, none of these bounty hunters are affiliated with either of those criminals thus far. Nor have any mentioned them." The droid's voice replied.

Harry frowned and shrugged a bit. "Okay, send the data to my comlink. Including the passwords and such. I'm going to get started on some galactic karma!"

He grinned and turned to Ahsoka, but she cut him off before he could say anything.

"How… did your droid get that information so quickly? How do you know whatever they told you is not leading you into a trap?" she demanded as she stood in front of him with her arms crossed, looking like she intended to keep him from leaving.

"Veritaserum." Harry said with a chuckle. "It's one of those potions I've mentioned to you. In the case of this one, it's a painless interrogation potion. Three drops and they truthfully answer any question put to them." Harry continued seeing the questions forming in Ahsoka's mind. "Wears off in about half an hour, and they're none the worse for the wear save for a bit of dry mouth, and right now that the least of their concerns."

Harry flashed Ahsoka another grin, when he answered her questions before she could ask them. "Go ahead and get started on that computer reboot. I'll be back in a little bit." He gestured toward the ship as he turned to walk away.

"Harry!" Ahsoka called as he turned away. He stopped and looked back at her with a raised eyebrow. She gestured at Aayla who was still silenced, and the younger woman had a slightly pleading expression on her face.

The Twi'lek, on the other hand, didn't seem nearly as upset as she had been just a few short moments earlier. Of course that was before Harry had accused her of being an assassin, but there was still an angry glare on her face as she gestured at her throat in an echo of Ahsoka's plea.

Harry was tempted to tell Ahsoka that, if the Jedi were so all knowing, they should be able to dispel a simple silencing spell without too much effort. But instead he sighed and relented "Fine. But if you leave the docking bay, you won't be able to get in until I'm back."

He turned, and as he walked away Harry absentmindedly waved a hand in Aayla's direction.

Aayla felt the small surge in the Force and opened her mouth "I.. can talk now?! How did you do that?"

Harry looked back over his shoulder and winked, "Well, according to you it certainly couldn't have been magic, Blue."

He he made no attempt to hide that the gaze from his eye that didn't blink was directed squarely at the Twi'lek's chest as he disappeared with a soft crack mid stride.

ooOoOOoOoo

After Harry left, and after Aayla had spent nearly a full minute in silence as she stared at the spot Harry had just disappeared from. When she finally tore her eyes away from the space, Aayla turned to Ahsoka, only to see her friend eyeing her very suspiciously.

"So why are you here, Master Secura?" Ahsoka finally asked when she had the Twi'lek's attention.

"Like I said, I was tasked to investigate the Bo-"

"Don't lie to me," snapped Ahsoka, and for once, she actually felt fairly angry. She had wanted to deny Harry's words when he listed off the reasons Master Secura was there. But Harry had predicted the Order would send someone after them. He also had been fairly direct about his suspicions and hadn't seemed to have gotten much wrong since he had met her.

She met Aayla eyes, trusting in Harry's perception of events. "Don't _you_ dare lie to me. I can handle the Council lying. I can handle that idiot prosecutor Tarkin along with the Supreme Chancellor! But now you're lying to me too? My trust in members of the Order seems like it's dwindling fast. I can't trust the Council, I can't trust my friends… and if I can't trust you, it looks like the only Jedi I can trust is Skywalker_."_

Aayla stared at Ahsoka, and desperately wanted to fall back upon the three rules of infiltration work, '_Deny Deny Deny', _ but felt that would only damage her case further. Ahsoka had obviously already placed a large amount of faith and trust in the erratic and crude bounty hunter.

The man was certainly dangerous, and for him to pick up upon the fallacies she spoke so quickly, meant she would need to go for full disclosure, or leave immediately to check in with the Council for further instruction. Which would take time even if she did have access to a long range communication device, which she did not have thanks to her ship being blown up. It also meant she'd likely lose their trail immediately, even if Harry had mentioned they were bound for Kashyyyk next.

In the end, it came down to Aayla's conscience. She felt she couldn't lie to Ahsoka, not after the Council had wronged her so badly. The Jedi Order had failed her, and she wouldn't allow the Council to compound that failure by casting aspersions upon her character just because of her now close proximity to a Force user whose motivations, goals, and history were shrouded in mystery.

Aayla sighed, "The Council ordered that I attempt to find out more about him. Master Yoda termed it a vergence, a shatterpoint even. So I am to figure out more about him and where he's from. What he did to the two masters to make the two of you disappear. I was also to ascertain if you were in any danger while with him, and to report my findings back when relevant."

"Well, if you haven't noticed, I'd be in danger with or without Harry." Ahsoka snorted, "And I certainly don't see the Council caring if their 'embarrassment' got waxed by the same bounty hunters we've put in prison multiple times, each."

"Yes, I see that now. I take it that's what the bounty you both turned in on Coruscant was about?" Aayla asked, the accusation against the Council completely ignored for the time being.

Ahsoka looked at Aayla carefully, before she eventually nodded. "Yeah, I didn't reclaim my lightsaber before turning down the Order's offer to return, so when that hunter had a gun to the back of my head, along with six others, it was Harry who stepped in and save me."

"He used the Force to do this, Ahsoka?" Aayla asked, her tone carefully neutral as she hoped to draw out information on Harry's abilities from Ahsoka, but his motivations as well.

Ahsoka shook her head quickly, "You can draw your own conclusions. But, I'm not telling you anything else, Master Secura,"

Aayla felt a brief pang in her heart when her old friend refused to call her Aayla like she once had.

"I won't betray him, not after he's saved me multiple times. Hell, at first I had to pester him for a while to even consider showing me what he has," Ahsoka lifted her chin slightly in a combination of pride and defiance as she met Aayla's eyes.

"What did he offer you, Ahsoka?" Aayla's tone was filled with caution now. That kind of 'offer' sounded too much like some sort of temptation to lure Ahsoka to the Dark Side. The idea sounded preposterous to Aayla, but she knew anything was possible.

She had seen several Jedi who she never would have imagined be tainted by exposure to the Dark Side, no matter how strong willed or well intentioned that Jedi may have been. Even her old master had been changed by his exposure to the Dark Side. Aayla herself had once fallen to the temptation of the Dark Side after her mind had been wiped with Gliterral. She knew what sort of attraction and power waited there for those too weak to not resist it.

Ahsoka Tano had always had a good heart, but she wasn't even a full Jedi. She was still a Padawan before she was dismissed from the Order. She had also been brash, reckless and headstrong, much like her Master. She wouldn't be the first with those qualities to find themselves falling in circumstances such as this.

"I can't tell you what he's shown me," Ahsoka said with a shrug.

Aayla quirked her eye at the statement. Perhaps Ahsoka simply didn't wish to spread knowledge around of what the uncivilized man had offered her, but the way she said it sent chills up Aayla's spine. Her eyes narrowed, but something nagged at the back of her mind, telling her there was more to this situation than appeared at first glance.

"Explain," she demanded curtly.

Ahsoka smiled, and there was a bit of a smirk to that smile. "Demand all you want. I literally can't, Master Secura. If I break my oath, my connection to the Force will be stripped from me."

A look of utter horror crossed Aayla's face at that idea, and at the idea of what this man had somehow subjected Ahsoka too, worse it seemed that Ahsoka didn't seem bothered by it at all.

"He did what?" Aayla sputtered, "How has he trapped you like this?"

Ahsoka hesitated a moment, before she seemed to consider what to say. She spoke slowly, as if testing the very words that she spoke. "It's one of the ways his people keep secrets. Oaths, vows, and contracts mean a lot to his people, and it's backed up and enforced by the Force itself, well, Magic as he says."

Ahsoka shrugged off the idea and, to Aayla's incredulity, her expression said it was no big deal, "Harry said that magic itself will also work to protect that knowledge so it can't be forced or coerced out of me."

Seeing Aayla's expression and assumption Ahsoka shook her head. "I'm not trapped. I can leave at any time I want. I just can't talk or communicate about what he teaches me or what he does with his magic or teach it to anyone else.." Ahsoka gave Aayla an odd look, "Unless you, of course, give him the same kind of oath."

Aayla was shocked at the statement, and a bit offended, "I have my own oaths and promises to uphold to the Jedi Order. I will not spread my loyalties much less to some bounty hunter scum."

Ahsoka narrowed her eyes at that last description, and her voice turned chilly. "I'll let that slide this time, Master Secura, but don't ever insult Harry around me again."

A thought occurred to her as she glanced around. "Er… or around Dobby. You saw what he did to those he felt were going to harm Harry's ship. Harry has warned me more than once that Dobby can be a little overzealous in defense of him. Then again, until a few minutes ago, I was starting to wonder if Dobby was just made up as part of some prank Harry was playing on me…"

Ahsoka then shook her head, letting her lengthening lekku fall freely out of the cloak she had been wearing. Aayla remembered Ahsoka right when she first was assigned to Skywalker. Back then, her lekku barely touched her shoulders. Now, they were halfway down her chest and back.

"I'm staying with Harry, Master Secura. He saved my life. He's funny and, while he may be crude, he's never given me one reason to doubt his intentions. He has also been truthful with me as far as I can tell. Harry didn't _make_ me come with him, I _asked_ to go with him."

She shook her head slightly, "And I had to convince him!"

"But...the moment the idea to stay with him popped into my head, the Force all but screamed at me to follow through with the idea." Ahsoka hesitated and her eyes got a serious look in them, and her voice went from defensive to earnest. "Somehow… I _knew_… I was meant to do this. That the implications would be staggering for myself, the Jedi, for everyone in the Republic."

"It was unlike anything I've ever experienced. I mean... I've felt the Force guide my movements in battle. I've felt nudges and urges and subtle insinuations that I should do something...every once in awhile… but I've never felt it just stand up and say 'If you ever want to make an impact… you need to do this _now_.'" Ahsoka's eyes had a faraway look in them as if she was reliving the memory.

She glanced at Aayla, "And I won't you or anyone else speak ill of him without even spending time around him. _Real_ time around him, not time when he's amped up from getting shot at because of people after me or dealing with Jedi incompetence."

There was silence as Aayla processed that impassioned statement. She had never heard Ahsoka so passionate about anything in her life. But she couldn't help but be a little suspicious of the timing too, wondering if this 'Harry' hadn't done something to influence the girl.

Ahsoka broke the silence, snapping out of the memory "Speaking of staying or leaving, what will you do now, Master Secura?"

Aayla winced at how formal Ahsoka was continued to address her. She had hoped that Ahsoka would lighten up and get more comfortable as they talked, but quite clearly that was not happening. Anakin Skywalker had warned her via a private communication after she had departed that Ahsoka was extremely hurt by the Council's actions and inactions.

He wasn't certain she'd be receptive to talking to her, or anyone but him really. Aayla initially thought there was a bit of arrogance in the statement, but in retrospect, Anakin was more accurate than she gave him credit for. Clearly, Ahsoka was unhappy with the Council, which showed Anakin knew his student very well. It was now very likely the only Jedi who Ahsoka wouldn't remain on-guard around.

Aayla wondered if perhaps Anakin had underestimated how much she had been hurt.

Ahsoka mistook Aayla's extended silence for a loss. "You do realize you have no ship to get out of here, right?"

"I will find a way." Aayla said with more confidence than she felt. "I'm sure an option will present itself, the Force will help provide a way."

Ahsoka snorted, "I think I'd prefer to rely upon myself to provide.."

Ahsoka did have a point, Aayla thought. She was in more than a little bit of trouble at the moment. No ship, and no secure means of communicating with the Jedi Council

With her ship blown up, along with the manner she went silent immediately afterwards, the Order's first assumption would be that she had been killed. There was always the chance that the more 'excitable' members of the Council would think Harry had done the act.

They all seemed to be completely oblivious to the fact Ahsoka was now one of the higher bounties in the galaxy now that she no longer held the Republic's and Jedi's protection. Aayla wondered why so many were so insistent on figuring out Harry. They were possessed with almost a single-minded focus upon Harry, blind to all other threats.

Idly, she wondered what would've happened if they had been this quick to chase down ghosts such as Harry back when Master Qui-Gon Jinn had died at the hands of a Sith.

Her thoughts were interrupted when Ahsoka simply said, "You should come with us to Kashyyyk."

"Why? What's on Kashyyyk?" Aayla asked, wondering why the two of them were headed there.

Ahsoka rolled her eyes, "A government that's a heck of a lot friendlier than the Hutts for one. You'll easily be able to get ahold of whoever you need at the consulates there. Harry's not that bad, I'm sure if you ask he'll let you come."

"Not that bad?" Aayla echoed, a combination doubt and sarcasm filling her voice. "He took one look at me and assumed I was either a whore or a dancer."

"So… maybe he's a bit rough around the edges. But… he saved my life when he didn't have to. He's protecting me still when it's more trouble to do so than to leave me to my own devices." Ahsoka said defensively.

"He has an entire docking bay that was filled with naked bounty hunters." Aayla replied.

"Okay I won't deny that isn't a bit bizarre. That description pretty much fits Harry to a T." Ahsoka responded after a moment before falling silent for several long moments. When she spoke again, her voice was soft when she repeated. "I trust him... I don't know much about his past or where he comes from or learned to do what he does. But he has only helped me."

"He may not have much of a filter and may make some inappropriate comments. But he's still seems like he only has good intentions despite it." Ahsoka shrugged. "He may have his quirks, but I trust him."

If ever someone waved a red flag in front of Aayla, presenting a mystery that the Rutian Twi'lek would now absolutely be required to solve for her own piece of mind, this was it. A mysterious Force user with odd powers, odd companions and a mysterious background? Her empathic side wouldn't let her resist.

She had no idea if Ahsoka had dangled that little nugget of information out there intentionally. But whether she admitted it or not, Aayla had already committed herself to traveling with the man if she was allowed. Unfortunately, that was where the idea came to a grinding halt in her mind.

She needed to convince the man now to allow her to come with them. The same man who'd first thought she was a prostitute, then a dancer, then a dancer/prostitute, and finally a spy or an assassin.

Yeah, she had her work cut out for her.

They had sat in relative silence outside the ship after Ahsoka had quickly entered to set up the restoration of the ship's computer and various navigation equipment. It was an uncomfortable silence, which Aayla had no idea how to break, when suddenly, it was done for her.

Dobby popped in to the docking bay, looking extremely frantic. He looked around wildly, summoning bits of equipment and banished the remaining few unconscious bounty hunters into a pile in a corner without care of how hard he was doing so. Resultant cracks indicated that he had broken at least one or two bones when he did so.

Aayla didn't need her empathic abilities to feel the fear, anger, and panic of the little creature. His movements transmitted all of those emotions quite clearly, and she couldn't help but ask, "Dobby? That is your name, correct? What is wrong?"

"Master Harry very angry. Find something wrong at last ship he stole." The little being replied quickly before he popped away without any further detail.

Aayla's eyes went to directly to Ahsoka, and she was unable to keep a bit of judgement out of her expression. The description of Harry as being 'angry' definitely wasn't doing him any favors in her book, especially if he utilized the Force in his rage.

Before she could say anything about the implications, they were interrupted by a large group of beings appearing out of nowhere.

"Well," said Ahsoka as she stared slack-jawed once again at one of Harry's actions. "This will certainly be some story."

**oOooOoOOoOooOo**

It took longer than Harry expected.

First he had underestimated the number of ships he was going to be stealing. Second, while Minnie was able to give him the docking bay and access codes, he was the one that had to actually go and find the actual docking bays. And Nar Shaddaa was enough of a maze that he was apparating all over the place to find them. At one point he almost went back to go and use legilimency on the bounty hunters just to make the job easier.

However, he was certain his actions would cause havoc for a number of criminals. The idea of pranking such people made him nostalgic, and he could almost imagine being watched from above by a group whose rich pranking legacy he continued as they laughed their heads off, watching him.

His approach was simple. Enter the corresponding docking bay with the codes gotten from the different bounty hunters. He would then stun anyone who might be in the docking bay. He considered taking them for bounties too, but knew he had far more people than he wanted to take in the docking bay of his own ship already.

He also realized that they had stayed behind and either drew the short straw or just weren't fighters, and anyone who was likely leading a group of bounty hunters, or more likely independent minded mercenaries, since he knew some of these idiots weren't bounty hunters by trade.

Of course, if the bounty hunters or mercenaries currently enjoying extended naps in his docking bay escaped or were eventually freed, they would probably be a bit miffed to discover their ships had just disappeared. The only people they could take out their frustration on would be the ones who were supposed to be guarding the ships.

Everyone always did need someone to blame when something went wrong.

He proceeded from there into the ship's central core. After a quick look around for any living souls to ferret out anyone that was still left in the ships, he would take time to stun any that were found and leave them in the docking bay as well. He also reminded himself that he would have to teach revealing charms to Ahsoka at some point.

Harry didn't make use of them, not to check for people anyway. It was far easier to wrap himself in his magic, which caused the souls of any sentient beings to stand out like beacons within the ship. Unfortunately, that ability was only in his arsenal due to one of the unique circumstances in his life, and he doubted Ahsoka would be able mimic the same thing. He had never met a witch or wizard who could replicate it.

He then headed deeper into the ship towards the engineering section and the interior access panels for the engines. Of course, in two of the ships, he had no idea where the engines actually were due to his unfamiliarity with that particular ship design and their sheer size, so it took some wondering about to locate them.

But he would eventually venture to the engine compartments and the adjacent power cores, and pull out the power couplings, then power down the ship's reactors. Now was certainly not the time to run an experiment on what would happen when a active reactor was saturated with the kind of magic he intended to flood the ship with soon.

Harry would then stick the power couplings to the ground next to the engines with a sticking charm so they didn't get loose, along with any other loose debris or parts in sight as he left. Then he would walk out of the ship, and cast the most powerful shrinking charm he could manage. Channeling enough power to shrink the entire ship until it was no larger than a model was no mean feat. It took a bit of concentration, but he had plenty of power.

When the ship was no larger than a model that a child might play with, he would walk over, cast a quick unbreakable and featherlight charm on the pseudo die-cast toy, and then drop it in a sack that he'd conjured.

After repeating the process a few times, Harry found that he was honestly enjoying himself. He pilfered seven ships of different sizes and designs, Including two that he had no idea how they managed flight, much less space travel. He was whistling and letting his mind wander, even considering making a hobby out of a miniaturized space-ship collection display somewhere. The idea of a 'model display case' with a hidden meaning behind it seemed almost too cool of a thing to _not_ do.

Hopefully Ahsoka wouldn't object. And Dobby wouldn't feel the need to ask Harry to shrink him to clean the shrunken ship interiors.

Those humorous thoughts would unfortunately not last until he returned to the Gryffindor.

When he reached the second to last ship he intended to take, his good mood disappeared entirely. He approached the much larger than the average ship after he had stunned the one guard left on duty at the ramp and then quietly boarded.

Most pirates tended to stay away from such bulky freighters because they tended to be slow and cumbersome, which was hardly good for pirating since other ships could evade them even if it did seem rather well armed. Nor was a ship like this going to be able to avoid security sweeps and patrols if anyone stopped them inspection. This meant that, for any competent owner, smuggling seemed an unlikely profession for its crew.

It took him less than thirty seconds after he had moved inside before he discovered just why the ship was so big. It wasn't a bounty hunter's ship, a pirate's ship, nor a smuggler's ship. It wasn't even a standard freighter whose crew got it in their heads that they could get an easy payday by doing a bit of casual kidnapping disguised as bounty hunting..

It was a slaver's ship and the hold was occupied, and not by more wanna-be bounty hunters.

Chained up in the hold were over a dozen women and young girls of different species. Twi'lek's of four different skin tones, Togratan, Human, Rodian, Zeltron, Devaronian, Selonian, and a Zabrak. Those were just the races he identified at first glance from memory. All of them were manacled to walls and on their knees.

Harry clenched his fist and tried to control his anger at the reaction he received when a few noticed him. The females that were conscious all stared in his direction in fear. He knew the reaction was partly because he wasn't part of their routine. It was obvious the crew was enjoying the _comfort_ of their presence from the condition of a few of them. But, Harry was new, and anything that disrupted the routine meant that it was possible that one or more of of the girls would end up being purchased for Merlin knows what. His presence on the ship signified change, and a possibility that their immediate living conditions could either be light years better or parsecs worse than where they currently found themselves.

It was the _unknown._

He'd seen that fearful stare more times than he'd like to remember, and unfortunately, Harry was all-too-aware of how to handle it.

Harry wished this was the first time he had seen this sort of sight. Unfortunately, it was not even close. He could see the hopelessness that hung about them, and was willing to wager he could guess at the majority of their stories.

Some of them were targets of opportunity. Girls that had the misfortune of being isolated by happenstance and kidnapped when no one was looking. Others were the vulnerable and frequent victims of people desperate for quick cash, such as homeless, runaways, or children. Those who were weaker and less protected, less able to fight back.

And… sadly, Harry knew that some of the girls in front of him were likely sold by their families, either to pay debts or merely for profit. He had no doubt that all of the Twi'lek's and the Rodians fell under this category. Those in this group would have no home to go back to, because their families would just turn around and sell them again.

So, he would do what he could for them.

Harry sighed and resisted the urge to just start making things explode and then murmured quietly. "Dobby."

A moment later Dobby appeared in front of him with a crack. "Yes, Master Harry Potter!"

The excitable house elf asked immediately. His manner changed immediately seeing the expression Harry had on his face. Harry gestured at the slaves now behind Dobby, who turned around to take in the sight and froze at all the eyes that were focused upon the two intruders.

Harry's voice was calm and ice cold. "I need you to set up cots in the hold Dobby. If we don't have enough room, then I want you to start cramming the 'bounty hunters' in together. Their comfort isn't of any concern to us. Stuff them in the fucking storage compartments if you have to. We'll just need to make sure to put air freshening charms around them."

"Once you're done setting up cots, try putting together some baths and clothes for all of them." Harry's orders were issued crisply but his tone had taken on a deadly quality which the elf had only heard his master utilize when things were very serious and a lot of people were likely to die.

The House Elf nodded once, briefly. All trace of humor and his normal excitability was gone. "Yes, Master Harry," Then he disappeared with a pop, causing more than one of the captives that had been brave enough to look directly at them to gasp in shock.

Harry sighed and moved toward the women, which immediately caused all of the conscious ones to start to shake and whimper in fear. Their fear of unknown things had only been compounded by Dobby's strange appearance and departure. Harry hesitated as he saw this reaction, and then waved a hand and cast a mild sleeping charm over them that would increase in strength slowly.

There were a number of tedious things he needed to perform before he could free them, and by no means did he need them all panicking while he tried to disarm whatever security was in place to keep them here. He could see several tried to fight the charm, and one even succeeded for over a minute, which was impressive as they were probably exhausted and uncomfortable.

Once they were all asleep, Harry moved methodically from person to person. He used magic and carefully reached out to each of them in turn. After freeing them from their manacles, he sent a destabilizing pulse of wild magic through their bodies, which disabled all electronics present in or on their bodies. It was the same sort of method he had used to sabotage any recording equipment that may have been present at their booth in the bar.

He was more than a little angry, so his control was slightly diffused. This was readily apparent to him when, after he healed one of the girls who had resisted his sleep charm for the longest. It was no surprise that this particular slave had endured far more abuse than the others, and his loss of control as he healed her body managed to short out the lights in the hold.

It didn't bother him or slow him in the slightest, as he could see in the dark. It likely would've driven the girls to hysterics if they were awake though, so he was privately glad he had put them all to sleep.

This left him one final task before he could remove the group from the ship. Very slowly, with all the possible concentration he could muster, he extracted the subdermal bombs that each was fitted with when they'd originally been 'claimed' as slaves. With the booby traps, removed from each girl, he quickly healed the wounds afterward. He may not have studied to be a medi-wizard but that didn't mean he didn't know how to heal. He just always did it differently. No specific spells, just let his magic do what was needed to encourage the mending of wounds.

He could almost hear Madame Pomfrey's voice in his head. _"There was the normal way and the Harry Potter way." _

He moved almost mechanically as he placed each unconscious body in the center of the ship's hold in a large circle. He conjured a large pink hula hoop, then gently picked up each girls hand, and made sure they were attached to the hula hoop via sticking charm. A cushioning charm was placed underneath every girl to prevent them injuries from what was about to occur. The hoop glowed blue with a wave of his hand, and then the group disappeared from the slaver's hold.

They had just disappeared with a pop when a door directly behind Harry opened and a light pierced the room. Uneven footsteps were overshadowed by laughing voices filtered in through the now open hatchway. "C'mon, we probably have plenty of time before the others get back, more than enough to teach that one some respect, teach her not to bite or we'll take out her teeth. Hey… who turned out the lights?"

Harry turned around slowly, his eyes practically glowing emerald in the darkened hold.

"Who the fuck are y-" The human in the lead started to speak before the rest of his statement was cut off. Along with his head as it tumbled and bounced on the floor.

"Ellis? What the hell?" Came the shocked voice of one of his compatriots that was only partially in the room and didn't have a clear view of what had happened.

Harry didn't waste time. He didn't banter or warn the slavers. He marched forward and tossed silent cutting curses into the group quickly and efficiently.

There were four more after the first one that he had felled. The second and third died almost immediately after the first even as their compatriot was speaking. The last two were quicker on the uptake than their compatriots and tried to use the sides of the door for cover.

It didn't work.

Harry simply stepped through the door and and cast more cutting curses at either side. One of the two managed to get off a shot with his blaster right into Harry's side. Harry flinched from the burning pain that erupted in his ribs, but didn't cry out as he reduced them both to a mountain of gore and body parts.

He scowled in irritation at his own sloppiness as he looked down at the injury. It had gone into his side and likely scorched his rib as well as damaging some of his internal tissue.

The loud report of the blaster bolt attracted attention from further in the ship, which caused several voices from areas of the ship ahead of him to call out.

"_What the hell?_"

"_Are they back?_"

"_Did they manage to get the Jedi__ and she's escaping__?_"

Harry was already deep in his magic, and it took minimal effort to search out the remaining souls on the ship. He quickly determined there were five more people on the ship. He didn't bother announcing himself or even speaking. Getting rid of them, now that he was fully in a combat mindset, took less than three minutes. The last one gibbered in so much terror as Harry approached down a hallway that his shaking hand could barely hold the blaster he tried to point at Harry. He wildly fired three shots, and none of them came close.

Fortunately, it only took him a minute to find the engine section and pull out the power couplings and stick them to the ground. On his way out of the ship, he vanished the remains of the bodies, not even bothering to identify any of them. People like this didn't even deserve the decency of funerals in his opinion, so the void could have them.

He stepped outside of the ship and debated just destroying it but after a brief internal battle he decided not to. Where the other ships might be sold, or even broken down for spare parts, this ship wouldn't.

He would turn it directly over to the Wookiees untouched. Along with the ship, he would deliver all of the slavers still alive back at his own ship to the Wookiees. The enormous tree-dwellers would then tear apart the ship's computers and extract everything the slavers knew through their own very persuasive interrogation methods. The residents of Kashyyyk were not exactly known for being gentle, nor did they have veritaserum. But their lack of magical methods of coercion did not make them any less effective.

The Wookiees would then follow the trail back to the owners of the operation. Heaven forbid that the Wookiees find any hint that the slavers had procured any of their own people amongst their stock of offerings. The ship itself would eventually be sold at an impound, and much of the proceeds would likely help victims like the girls who had just been rescued.

Five minutes after the slaves had portkeyed away, the slaver's vessel was dropped in his pocket. His earlier mood was now thoroughly ruined as the initial anger that coursed through him when he found the slaves had barely abated. Due to this, he only apparated to the next ship just long enough to ensure it wasn't another slave operation.

After he had ensured that the ship wasn't run by slavers, and absently noting that the ship barely looked large enough to fit two, much less anyone else, Harry paused just long enough to hit himself with several scourgifys. The short battle on the ship had managed to inundate his clothes and skin with a fair amount of blood spatter. Now, looking somewhat less like a crazed psychopath, he apparated away back to the docking bay that held his ship.

The idea of wasting time to grab one more ship didn't appeal to him anymore, not with what he had just encountered and done. Absently, he wondered if what he had found was his own version of Karma at work. He apparated back to the Gryffindor's docking bay. As he appeared in his ship's docking bay, he took a deep breath and winced again from the pain in his side.

He shook his head and prepared himself to deal with the next few complications that had affected his life since Ahsoka Tano had a gun pressed up against her head and his 'saving people thing' had reared up with a vengeance. The girl, who he realized more and more seemed to share so many similarities with himself, was likely only going to add to the troubles and drama in his life the longer they stuck together.

Harry appeared back at the docking bay, to find Aayla and Ahsoka being held back by a glare from Dobby as he levitated the unconscious slaves aboard the ship, obviously moving slowly and taking far more care with the unconscious slaves than he had the unconscious naked bounty hunters.

When the two women saw him, both of them abruptly turned away from Dobby to him, "What happened?" Aayla demanded first.

Harry gave the Twi'lek an annoyed look, but answered her question anyway as he kept walking by her, "I think that's fairly obvious. The second to last ship was a Slaver ship, and this was the cargo. I put them all to sleep, then portkeyed them here."

Harry followed the last one being levitated up the ramp. He turned to Ahsoka as he placed a foot on the boarding ramp, "We'll take them to Kashyyyk, and see if we can't get them aid there, and I'll definitely be turning over what's left of the slaver crew to the Wookiee authorities."

Harry allowed himself a brief vindictive smirk, but if faded quickly as he looked back toward Dobby and their new passengers his friend was still slowly bringing aboard the ship one at a time.

Ahsoka shivered at the thought of what the wookiees would do the slavers. There were very few cultures or planets that still had capital punishments, and the Wookiees were among those that still had a few crimes which would lead to rather barbaric repercussions for the guilty. Quick and painless were not options if one ran afoul of the Wookiees.

Harry, on the other hand, completely ignored her disquiet, as his own irritations came into play. He was as upset about the condition of the slaves as he was angry about the fact they were slaves in the first place. The slavers were not kind people and it showed in how many injuries he had to heal. Unfortunately he could only heal the physical damage through his abilities. The emotional scars were going to be a much longer process to assuage.

"Minnie. See if there are any Missing Persons notices out for any of the women. I doubt there will be, but it can't hurt to try and find out. Otherwise, I'm sure the Wookiees will be happy to care for a few more former slaves from us." Harry said to the droid who had been standing and watching the procession of women into the ship.

"Of course, Mister Potter," the droid said without hesitation.

Ahsoka was watching Harry and frowned. His tone was short and his words were clipped, which is something he never did, even to the droids. He hadn't even glanced towards Aayla and Ahsoka after their initial reaction. She followed him quickly into the ship.

He was carrying an odd sack and he seemed to be moving stiffly, which Ahsoka definitely noticed. She had spent several days with him, and had come to notice that even for someone who spent her life in the Order, Harry moved with an uncommon fluidity of movement and grace.

"Harry? What's in the bag?" Ahsoka quietly asked.

He turned back and stared at her a moment, as if the question hadn't quite registered with his mind. He stayed silent for a full five seconds before he shrugged and negligently tossed the bag full of shrunken ships he had collected to the floor in front of her.

"Where else did you think I was going to put the ships I went to steal?"

Then, without another word of explanation, he walked further inside to where the unconscious slaves were now being watched over by Dobby. He slowly walked around a corner into one of the access hallways, disappearing from sight.

Ahsoka didn't glance at the bag for more than a few moments before she double-timed it so that she could follow Harry, Aayla falling in step right behind her.

"Harry, wha-" Ahsoka was cut off as she stopped in the access hatch of one of the larger cargo holds.

Harry was sorting through a trunk quickly, his back to them, only he was shirtless from the waist up. His dark trousers and boots were also gone, although his trousers had been replaced by a pair of light grey sweatpants. Both women stared for a moment, at the mish mash of faded scars that seem to be all over Harry's lithe, and well muscled back.

Harry turned around holding a plain white t shirt in his hands, "Yes?"

They also noticed that his front also had scars on irregular places over his skin. But their attention was taken up by the distinctive black circular mark just below Harry's ribcage. Ahsoka rushed forward immediately.

"You've been shot!" She exclaimed, a shrill note in her voice briefly.

"Yeah, one of the slavers that were on the ship got in a shot before I got to him," Harry replied, and then hissed in an intake of breath as Ahsoka prodded the wound lightly.

"We need to get you to a med center," Aayla interjected, though her tone sounded worried at the prospect of going to one on Nar Shaddaa.

"I'll be fine." Harry responded shortly.

"No, Harry, Master Secura is right. We should really get you some medical help." Ahsoka interjected, a worried tone in her voice. She had stopped prodding the wound when Harry hissed in pain, but she couldn't keep from looking at it.

"No, I said I'll be fine." Harry sad as he tugged the white tee-shirt, letting it drop to hang loosely about his frame. When Ahsoka went to protest, Harry shook his head and gently gripped her shoulders to look her in the eye. "Remember the bar?"

Ahsoka quickly nodded, that day wasn't likely to be one she ever forgot.

"Good. Same principle as the bartender really. Just a touch slower when it's done passively than if I focus on doing it myself with a spell, which I really don't feel like using at the moment considering our present company," Harry said before pushing past her, only to be stopped as Aayla blocked the doorway with her arms crossed over her chest, one hand holding the sack that Harry had discarded as it hung over the crook of her arm.

He was a healthy man, if only slightly mentally unbalanced and broken. So the sight of a Twi'lek in all leather, crossing her arms to push her already ample chest up into prominence would normally be something he would at least stop to gawk for a moment at.

But now wasn't anything close to normal for him.

"Blue, usually I'd totally appreciate the show that pose and those clothes offer. But I am so far from in the mood, it's not even funny." Harry said dryly.

"You owe us an explanation." Aayla said curtly.

Harry's eyes narrowed and his jaw clenched. "I don't owe you or your Order of idiots shit, Blue. Move, or I'll move _you_...and not in a way you'd enjoy. I'll put your arse right back in that bar from earlier, and then we'll see if you can't do a repeat of getting yourself out again."

Aayla blinked in surprise as she tried and failed to gauge his intentions from only the serious expression in his eyes. His expression held traces of anger, but Aayla could sense nothing from him. No presence in the Force.

What was stranger was that he also exuded no trace of emotions at all, and for an empath like her it was an incredibly eerie feeling. The void-like hole in front of her, combined with the angered individual that stood in its spot, felt weird enough to her that she found herself instinctively taking a step back and to the side as he breezed past her into the main hold of the ship.

Ahsoka took a step forward before she stopped and looked askance towards her just long enough to shake her head in disbelief and give a small glare towards the Twi'lek Jedi before she too followed Harry into the larger storage room where all the slaves had been moved. Aayla was left slightly shaken at how she had been so quickly intimidated by the unknown Force user she had unwisely, and perhaps unjustly, demanded answers of. It was a feeling she had not often felt, and one she had actively worked in her life to avoid freezing up when confronted with it.

It certainly made her feel as if she had just mentally regressed years in her training just from that one stare he had leveled at her.

When she had finally collected herself, she slowly walked out into the primary hold, and found that Harry was looking at all the cots crammed inside the space, practically on top of one another. She quietly moved towards Ahsoka, who now wasn't even acknowledging her presence after Aayla's apparent gaffe as Harry changed out of his soiled clothes.

The man truly frustrated her. He apparently was fully aware of her fighting prowess and her abilities, yet had just as quickly dismissed her as anything resembling a threat to him. The strongest acknowledgement he'd given her was based on her species and its reputation, which was something she never wanted recognition for to begin with. Her entire life, she'd fought to be known more than a blue pair of breasts with a high-powered cylinder used for questionable purposes attached to her hip.

Now though, a man who had taken in a friend that her own organization had marginalized, had also made his opinion of her quite known with the utterance of little more than a dozen words. That same friend, that she wanted nothing more to protect and shield from any more harm, now seemed to hold this enigmatic bounty hunter in the highest esteem, despite the fact the man's lack of decorum in his first impression as he dismissed Aayla as nothing more than a whore like the majority of the females of her species earned their livelihood through.

It _was_ truly frustrating. A lump of apprehension slowly settled over her stomach the longer she was in his presence, as, when she finally made contact with the Jedi Order, she had no idea how to report that Ahsoka Tano now followed a Force wielder who nearly made her wet herself in fear at a glance.

The same being she also called _Master_.

She stood silently alongside Ahsoka and just watched him. They observed as his emotional state took a visible change in direction. She may not have been able to read anything from him, but she could see the expression on his face. Gone was the intensity and in it's place was… sadness? Aayla tilted her head as she studied him and realized for a moment that his expression seemed very… weary.

For several moments Harry looked around at the slaves that were all laid on cots, side by side in the cramped area. Before Harry lifted both of his arms and made a curious pushing movement to the sides.

Aayla was completely unprepared as she felt a wave of Force wash over her and in front of her watched as the entire cargo hold seemed to grow around them. She watched as cots that were literally side by side with unconscious slaves less than a foot from one another spread apart as the room grew to give them each at least six feet of space.

Aayla looked around wildly in an attempt to figure out if her senses had been fooled by a simple Mind Trick, but found none every time she checked.

"By the Force… what… how?" Her eyes eventually fell on Ahsoka, who didn't look at all surprised at this phenomenon. Ahsoka met her gaze briefly and actually seemed amused by Aayla's sudden lack of composure.

For Ahsoka's part, she had seen this particular effect in use before. She hadn't seen it utilized in the hold yet, but Harry had shown her what a space expansion charm did to a trunk and described the effects. Not that describing the effects took much effort to comprehend, as the name was self explanatory. But the opportunity to see Aayla's reaction to a first-hand viewing of it in action, without any sort of forewarning whatsoever, was particularly funny.

Harry ignored both of their reactions. He had dropped his arms and the expansion of the hold stopped. He bowed his head for a moment and then took a deep breath, before moving to sit beside one of the bunks, which contained the lone Zabrak female among the slaves. He visibly braced himself and took a deep breath, before he slowly lifted the charm that kept the girl beside him asleep.

As the spell's effects slowly dissipated, he watched the girl before him became less and less influenced by his sleeping spell and fall into a troubled sleep. He thought that these next few hours or so would not be filled with fun conversations. What was worse, was that necessity required that he repeat the conversation at least fourteen more times after this first one.

The only shining light in the situation hopefully was, as more of the former slaves woke up and realized they were safe, they would be able to comfort each other as he moved on to explain the situation to the next girl.

As the girl in front of him returned to consciousness, he cast a very light calming charm at her, not enough to really stop her emotions, but enough to take the edge off and prevent any immediate hysterics. Upset was an emotion he could deal with. Hysterics would be far harder to manage in this setting.

They'd be emotional enough being in a totally strange place, and they likely weren't going to be the most trusting. Harry had no doubt that a good amount of his next few hours would be reassuring that they were okay, and any dangerous devices had been removed.

The Zabrak started to shift on the cot, but didn't awaken fully yet.

Harry spoke quietly, his eyes on the Zabrak. She couldn't have been more than 15 or 16, and he vividly remembered the injuries he had been forced to heal on her. He spoke quietly, but clearly enough that both Ahsoka and Aayla were able to hear him. "Dobby."

The small being popped into existence beside him immediately. "Yes, Master Harry?" There was no eager bouncing or earnestness. He simply waited for instruction.

"Seal the brig compartments with the slavers in them. No matter what I say, nobody goes in or out of them except for you." Harry's expression darkened for a moment. "Especially me."

Dobby regarded his master for a moment before nodding and disappearing with a snap of his fingers and no further reply.

Harry knew that if he really wanted to get in there, Dobby wouldn't be able to stop him. But it would keep a further check on his temper knowing he would have to order the little being to let him kill the filth he had captured, or force himself past Dobby. Given the stories he believed he was about to hear, he was sure that the idea would look tempting more than once.

Harry took a breath and then sat down on the floor, crossing his legs, making it clear that he posed no immediate threat to the woman. He winced a bit as the position added pain to his healing injury.

He put himself in a pose that clearly indicated no strike was forthcoming, and would have him looking up to speak to anyone sitting on the cot, giving them a slight unconscious perceived sense of power. He flicked a muffling charm around the area so she had privacy with just him, unless she screamed then it would collapse and he'd have to see about getting Ahsoka or the Jedi involved.

As Ahsoka watched, the young zabrak girl seemed to realize she was conscious and in an unfamiliar place. She snapped up in the cot and looked around wildly trying to get her bearings. Her eyes fixed on Harry and she jerked slightly, her hands coming up to protect herself before realizing that though the environment was unfamiliar, she wasn't presently in any danger. Then she looked at her hands in wonder seeing that she wasn't manacled anymore.

As Ahsoka watched Harry begin the first of what would likely be very uncomfortable and difficult conversations, she realized she didn't want to just seem like she was standing and gawking at the slaves. She looked over to Aayla and had to bite her lip to keep from laughing out loud.

The Jedi Master couldn't seem to decide where to look. Her gaze flicking back and forth between Harry who was leaning back on his hands, his pose seemingly relaxed as he and the Zabrak girl conversed; and the cargo hold which was now much wider than it had been before.

Ahsoka turned her attention from Aayla's expression to the bag in the Twi'lek's hand, one she seemed barely cognizant of holding. She moved forward toward the Twi'lek, her curiosity getting the better of her. She took the bag from Aayla's unresisting grasp, and reached inside, gingerly holding up the first thing her hand touched: an extremely detailed model of a Baudo-class star yacht.

Ahsoka turned the ship over in her hand slowly and her only external reaction was to blink several times as she realized exactly what she was holding. It was one thing to have seen it in action on random bits around the ship, but the realization that she was held an entire starship, fully function in the palm of her hand was quite the jarring experience. If there had ever been a truer example of the power of the Force, and that size ultimately mattered nothing, then it was the tiny object that lay innocently in her hands.

Aayla herself joined Ahsoka as she watched Harry, the young girl he talked to clutched her arms in front of her and Aayla could see that he said something to now freed girl, but for the life of her she couldn't tell what. She watched the person she had, less than an hour earlier, declared as no more than 'bounty hunter scum' now talk to a slave he had apparently liberated like he had absolutely no other concern for anything in the galaxy but the poor girl's well-being. Of course, after his use of the Force, her mind still struggled to come to terms with what she had seen as she glanced around the expanded hold.

She saw the girl look over in the direction of Ahsoka and herself nervously, and then look away quickly when she saw Aayla looking at her. Aayla blushed, looking down, realizing that she had been staring at Harry, and the Zabrak had misinterpreted it as staring at her. In order to distract herself from staring at the unfortunate girls, she mimicked Ahsoka and reached down into the bag as well, extracting the model of an Action V transport ship her hand encountered first.

She held the toy gingerly in her hand, and initially wondered why Harry had said he put the ships he had stole in the bag when it hit her what he had truly meant. It was minutes later, as realization slowly made her mind restart, that she truly began to understand exactly what it was she was holding.

A full-size ship had been shrunk so that, in it's current state, it probably weighed less than a pound. It was too many impossibilities occurring too quickly in a row for Aayla. She simply could not believe that she held a small mint worth of credits in her hands along with something that should weigh several hundred tons, hidden in plain sight under the disguise of an innocuous toy..

"This… this can't be a ship?" was all she could managed to say after she had turned the ship over in her hands half a dozen times.

Ahsoka didn't respond. She merely raised an eyebrow at the Twi'lek Jedi, an amused look on her face.

Aayla examined the craft for any flaw that would give away the illusion that it was a cleverly done model or something of that nature. She could feel the Force acting strangely around it, and she almost wanted to throw the ship back in the bag for fear of undoing whatever it was that Harry did and inadvertently crushing both Ahsoka and herself.

"I… I don't believe it," Aayla finally breathed out as her eyes never wavered from this... thing that should not be _possible, _sitting right there in her hands.

Ahsoka gave her old friend a half smile, and said, "And that… is why I'm sticking with Harry."

"Ahsoka, what do you really know about him? About who he is?" Aayla asked after a small pause. "How can you possibly trust him after knowing him for only a few days? I don't care what tricks he can do, this is not normal."

Ahsoka frowned a little bit, but she didn't have a response for some of what Aayla was saying. Harry hadn't really talked about where he was from. Though he'd mentioned some facts about his planet of origin in passing, ultimately he hadn't provided all that much detail on his background. He had seemed reluctant to talk about it, and Ahsoka had never really seen a reason to press for more when she was already dealing with trying to understand Harry's impossible way of using the Force.

Sensing the hesitation in Ahsoka, Aayla pressed forward. "You don't know who he is, what his beliefs are, where he is from or where he learned to use the Force like he does." She hesitated and her voice dropped to a whisper, "Or what his intentions are."

Ahsoka's mouth opened for an immediate reply but she paused when her attention was diverted from Aayla back over toward Harry as the girl he was talking to curled up and visibly started to sob.

She watched as he reached out gently and touched her shoulder in a touch she could tell was feather light. The Zabrak girl recoiled from it briefly and hesitated before she turned and threw her arms around his neck and began to sob against Harry instead. Ahsoka saw Harry didn't even look surprised or bothered, instead he lightly rubbed her back and continued to talk to the girl.

Ahsoka didn't look away from the sight in front of her. Didn't glance at Aayla once to see if the Jedi saw the same thing she did. She honestly felt Harry's ultimate intentions couldn't be expressed more fully and genuinely by the scene in front of them. If anyone actually saw what was in front of her now, and still had doubts about Harry...

"There isn't a day that goes by," she quietly said, "which I haven't said at least some of that a half dozen times."

She gestured at the two people across from them, without even a glance to see if Aayla had watched what transpired as well. Harry was stroking his thumbs over the cheeks of the Zabrak girl, and she was actually smiling at something he said. Seeing this vindicated every risk and leap of faith Ahsoka had made over the past week, and she wouldn't hesitate to drive that point home now to the Jedi beside her that was attempting to divert her from the path she knew she had irrevocably chosen.

"Can you honestly tell me that he follows a dark path? A path that would lead to the ruin of civilization as we know it, upsetting the so-called balance of the Force the rest of the Masters prattle on about?" Ahsoka asked bluntly aloud.

Aayla hadn't come out and said it, but Ahsoka didn't believe in subtlety. She knew what lurked in the mind of the Twi'lek beside her. It was an open secret within the Jedi Order that Aayla Secura had once been kidnapped as a Padawan, fed glitteryll until her mind had figuratively oozed out of her nose, and had been turned into nothing more than an devout harem girl by her own uncle, and then, without her memories to teach her right from wrong, ended up serving a Dark Jedi that had recently been released from a stasis prison.

Aayla had been rescued from that literal hell, and the recovery she endured afterwarrds required most of her mind to painfully be put fully back together. Even now, a decade later, Aayla still feared the temptation of the Dark Side, as the memories of her own drug-induced fall still haunted her.

She turned her full attention on Aayla. "I'll be the first to admit that he's crude. He's blunt with no sense of tact. He gets entirely too much fun out of winding people up for no more than his own amusement."

Ahsoka's lips twitched into an amused smile. "It's even possible he's not _entirely_ sane."

Harry himself had said several times over the past few days declared that sanity was boring, and only for people who accepted the reality constructed by others. He had gotten that faraway look in his eyes after he'd said that, and that wistful sad smile was once more on his face.

"And yes, I'm even willing to say he can be an asshole at times." Ahsoka said, "But you don't have to be nice to be a good person, and while he may have his own moral code… it seems to be working just fine for him… and those around him."

Letting that statement linger, Ahsoka set the ship she was still holding back into the bag around Aayla's arm, and then walked around the group of women on cots to head to the cockpit. She wanted to double-check to make sure the computer had been updated properly, as she knew they would depart the moon the moment Harry had managed to get the freed slaves secured..

Aayla didn't have a reply for that. She did however follow Ahsoka up to the front of the ship, though she didn't leave the hold, to follow the younger Togrutan into the cockpit. Instead she leaned against a wall, near where the protocol droid Minnie, stood motionless, charging in a wall socket. Aayla just watched Harry as he worked his way through the group, her eyes rarely leaving him. She watched as he and the Zabrak moved over to the second slave, and she felt more than saw a small shift in the Force as the second woman began to wake up.

Over the next few hours, the process began to repeat itself, as Harry moved patiently from woman to woman. Waking them up, calming them, reassuring them. Feeding them the first full meal some of them had probably had in a long time.

Ahsoka had come back out of the cockpit and joined her in her vigil, though neither spoke as they watched the process. The other slaves helped him made the process a little bit easier from the start but it was still painstaking. There was even a Devaronian girl, probably the youngest of the group based on her size, that took almost an hour and a half to coax to talk to Harry and the others.

After the women had each been woken, one by one, and Harry had talked to them all, they all moved to a group for comfort. However the stresses and the grief had taken it's toll, and they each were struggled to stay awake, perhaps for fear that if they went to sleep, they'd wake up and find out that their current situation was a dream.

Harry once more cast a slowly strengthening sleeping charm on the area, though far more slowly than he'd done in the slaver's ship. That took two minutes, this he spread out over the course of fifteen or so. But eventually, even the strong willed Zabrak succumbed to her own exhaustion, curling up protectively around the young Devaronian girl.

He slowly stood up, really for the first time since he'd sat on the cargo hold floor. Even when he had moved from cot to cot, he had crawled or remained crouched, which kept himself as nonthreatening as possible. He stood up and rolled his shoulders and turned his head from side to side, stretching out the kinks that his several hours of effort on the floor had earned him. Then he slumped and turned toward the cockpit.

Ahsoka was shocked by the look on Harry's face. She had seen him laugh, tease, intense, concentrating, and earlier he had been mad and then grim. However, now his expression was weary, and made him look like a haggard old man, well beyond the age his youthful face normally hinted at.

He walked toward the front of the hold where Ahsoka and Aayla had kept their vigil for the past few hours. He walked up to them and spoke quietly, his voice reflecting the fatigue in his eyes, though his voice was all the more intense for it. "Miss Tano, is the ship's computer back online?

When Ahsoka simply nodded in response, Harry cocked his head slightly in acknowledgement, "Good. We're leaving. Now. Minnie, prep the ship for launch."

The droid charging nearby, immediately sprung to life in acknowledgement. "Yes, Mister Potter."

"Dobby, as soon as Minnie says we're good to go, strip down the wards outside the ship. Leave nothing behind that's ours. As soon as I fire up the engines, we're out of here." Harry said, not even bothering to look around to see if the house elf was nearby.

The little house elf appeared the instant his name was mentioned and just nodded his head, disappearing as soon as Harry had completed his orders. He could tell the mood his Master was in.

Aayla had watched the orders issued by the exhausted man with a calm detachment that spoke of great leadership and combat experience. It was blatantly obvious the experience with the slaves had a massive effect upon him, and the mental fatigue that it had wrought upon him was in far excess of the physical attrition he had incurred.

When his final order had been issued to the tiny green being, he glanced for the briefest moment at her. Nothing was revealed in that look, but she felt an ominous foreboding that something subtle had just shifted.

Then, he headed down the access hallway to the cockpit, and there wasn't even a hesitation to his gait as he passed her and in the same weary but direct voice commanded, "Get the hell off my ship, Jedi."

Nothing further was said. The man didn't even glance behind him as he disappeared around a corner.

ooOooOoOOoOooOoo

**Author's notes: Chapter! Wooohoo!**

**Okay where to start with these notes. **

**1) That was a bit different of an introduction for Aayla wasn't it? Usually she's introduced and she and Harry sort of click. NOT SO MUCH! I'm also pretty sure there's rarely an introduction when the hero insults her so openly.**

**2) I have not decided on pairings. I AM pretty sure it's going to be a multi. BUT FOR THE LOVE OF ALL THAT IS HOLY do not assume just because someone is IN the story, has a significant part, or is portrayed sympathetically they are going to end up with Harry :P **

**3) Some people have claimed that we're bashing the Jedi Order. And to an extent that is true. But only because we're applying… you know… logic and common sense to their actions. Do not expect that to change. Harry has some VERY serious fundamental issues with the Jedi. **

**^^ Plums - like most sane people do.**

**4) A couple reviews and messages said Harry was being bigoted when he was talking about the colors. Um. I really SHOULDN'T have to point this out, people, but Harry wasn't entirely being serious. He was being playful. Distracting while he prepared to do something else. And just because something comes out of his mouth doesn't mean he actually believes it. Yeesh. **

**^^ Plums - and if anyone claims Harry was being bigoted towards Mace Windu, a character that has yet-to-be-seen-by-Harry, all while saying Harry wanted a lightsaber inscribed with BAMF on it while doing a Gai-Sensei smile and thumb's up, then there truly is no help for you. Nor have you ever watched Pulp Fiction… for shame, for shame. **

**I bet you don't even know what a Royale with Cheese is either.**

**5) Plums Notes - This chapter hurt. I donno why. We turned this from outline form to "prose" as Kat puts it, maybe 5-6 months ago i think at the time of us posting this (May 2015). We came back to edit and clean it up last week for posting, and found myself rewriting / rearranging the entire chapter. I don't know why, but this was one of the most painful chapters i've ever encountered for editing. Took WAY too much time away from my next Runemaster chapter, which i've finally started to fully dive into. **

**Hope the effort shows on this one.**

ooOooOoOOoOooOoo

**Alternative Chapter Titles. **

"**Introduction of a Stripper-Whore-Spy-Assassin." - Harry Potter**

"She's not a Stripper or a whore, or a spy or an assassin. She's a Jedi Master." - Ahsoka

"She's in skin-tight leather, with her boobs half falling out, and her 'fighting shoes' have heels. 'nuff said." Harry Potter

"But she's an inspiration to females everywhere! A strong female lead!" - Star Wars character designers.

"I'd definitely like to meet some females she's inspired."- Harry Potter

"**Harry Potter is an asshole." - Aayla Secura.**

"If we called the chapter that, every chapter would be titled that." - Harry.

"**Not **_**again.**_** No more drinking for me.**_**"**_** \- Bounty hunter who wakes up in a pile of naked people.**

"**Great Master Harry Potter collects ships and tentacle head ladies!" - Dobby**

"**The reasons we have rules about nudity." - Harry Potter**

"**Exhibit A as to why Yoda isn't allowed sugar."**

"Gremlins can't have water. Yoda and Dobby are the same way. Why would Yoda be any different? See what he could become if he gave in to the dark side… and ate their cookies?" - Harry

"Mmmm, Anger…. Pain… the Dark Side are they." - Yoda

"I think its just indigestion, try some Gas-X." - Harry


	5. A Path Undone

**Chapter 5**

**A Path Undone**

"Get the hell off my ship, Jedi." Harry didn't even glance behind him as he disappeared around a corner and toward the cockpit.

Aayla was taken aback by the blunt and curt dismissal, so different from the demeanor Harry had just shown with the women who were all now asleep in the hold.

Ahsoka's eyes flicked back and forth, looking at her friend and then down the passage Harry had walked through towards the cockpit. Her eyes moved back as she looked at Aayla once more and gave a helpless shrug as if to say 'It's on you', before she turned and followed after Harry.

Aayla couldn't help the brief look of hurt and worry on her face. The Ahsoka Tano she knew would have never just abandoned her friend in a situation like this. The fact that she apparently just did so was more than a little jarring. Had the loyalties Ahsoka had to the Order fallen so far that she would abandon a Jedi brother or sister in a time of need?

Aayla winced even before that thought had finished. Yes, Ahsoka likely would abandon any Jedi now except Skywalker. Not that Aayla could really blame the girl. No one in the entirety of the Jedi Order, save for her former Master, had stood by Ahsoka as she was held up like a lamb for slaughter to the Supreme Chancellor's need to blame someone for the sabotage inflicted by Barriss Offee.

No, the only people Ahsoka Tano would show loyalty now were those who reciprocated first. Anakin Skywalker had never failed her, and this Harry Potter had apparently now saved Ahsoka's life once, and arguably twice as he was the reason she had tagged along to Nar Shaddaa in the first place.

The Jedi felt the briefest pang of despair before she ruthlessly crushed the emotion. She knew that Ahsoka had defended Harry, and despite being an extremely crass individual in possession of numerous unknown and very dangerous abilities, the one thing Ahsoka Tano had stressed most vehemently was that he had a good heart.

She just needed to find a way to convince him to help her. Her very life likely depended upon it.

As Aayla entered the cockpit, she paused. Harry was slumped in the pilot's seat, hands moving over the flight controls slowly, and he had a white bird perched on his shoulder.

Ahsoka was sitting in the copilot's seat, helping to prep the ship for take-off but she was casting glances over at Harry regularly. The bird, who she had discovered was named Hedwig, was very protective of Harry. The avian had apparently watched Ahsoka suspiciously the first day or so on their trip from Coruscant to Nar Shaddaa. Several times Ahsoka had thought she was moments away from having to defend her life. Only now, that same bird was on Harry's shoulder nuzzling the side of his head.

The bird had been utterly standoffish any time she had seen it. To see it obviously trying to comfort Harry was indeed an odd sight.

After a few moments of silence, where Aayla had not said anything, but watched the bird and Harry in turn, the object of her observations finally spoke.

"I thought I told you to get off my ship." Harry's voice was short and he didn't bother to turn around.

Hedwig did however, or rather her head turned, as it rotated on her neck a full 180 degrees and glared at the Twi'lek in the entryway.

Aayla found herself surprisingly intimidated by the glare from the white bird, even though she was several times its size and likely ten times its weight.

She took a breath and cursed herself for being so unsteady at the moment before she spoke. "I would like to request passage from here to Kashyyyk to contact the Jedi Order in order to procure transport from there to Coruscant. Despite my experience and familiarity with the area, a lone Jedi without supplies or transport upon Nar Shaddaa is not likely to survive until aid arrives."

"If the Order sent you out here, they should have backup or be willing to send someone to pick you up." Harry replied, his tone indifferent. "I don't believe any organization sends people on true 'solo-missions', unless it's something they could never publicly acknowledge, in which case they'd disavow any involvement if it went belly up."

Harry paused and looked thoughtful for a moment before adding, "Well, either that or they simply didn't care about the loss of the asset. From what I understand about the workings of your Order, that would certainly not surprise me at all."

He shrugged apathetically, "If they didn't or can't give you an out, then you were likely given a mission that they'd disavow involvement of if your actions came to light… either way, I don't see how it's my problem."

Aayla scowled slightly at his continued disparaging of the Order. She glanced over to Ahsoka who was saying nothing, and busying herself with checks, and clearly not getting into this discussion.

After several long moments, with no help from Ahsoka, something which engendered a surprising feeling of betrayal inside her, she admitted, "It isn't, but after you helped the women you found I assumed that-"

"You assumed that I was a swell upstanding guy that you could just mooch a trip off of?" Harry interrupted. "And never mind the fact, Little Spy, that you're only here in the first place to either drag Ahsoka back to your Order for re-indoctrination, or you're here to observe my status as a threat to your Order, before getting permission to kill me."

"Blue, I may occasionally still do good things without pay, but helping someone who could be ordered to kill me, and that would probably attempt to do so if ordered... well… these days I tend to try and draw the line at that." Harry tilted his head slightly his eyes going far off as he pondered the irony of that statement. Not that it was illogical in the slightest, just at how much experience he'd had with drawing that line.

A nudge of Hedwig's head against the side of his brought him back. Harry glanced at the bird, who nudged him again and almost seemed to communicate something to him. His eyes narrowed briefly before he gave a quick shrug and returned to his workstation.

When Aayla still didn't move to leave or say anything in reply, he eventually asked, "So, despite you apparently being friends with Ahsoka, which I'll grant is at least a small point in your favor. I'll be blunt, the only reason I haven't already modified your memory and dumped you unconscious in the docking bay is because you appear to have good intentions towards Ahsoka."

Aayla was outraged at the idea, and let out a gasp, her hand on her lightsaber immediately, "Modify my memory?" Her mind instantly flashing to her actions when her mind and memory had been wiped.

Harry shrugged blandly in response, seemingly unconcerned with Aayla's reaction, not even bothering to turn around to look at her. "Sure, it wouldn't hurt you and it would save us… irritation in the long run. Be thankful you're such a terrible liar. Your true intentions regarding Ahsoka have shown through, so you were afforded at least that much courtesy."

"But that still doesn't answer my question of what to do with you." Harry shrugged again. "I am content with simply kicking your pretty blue ass off my ship. You have seen some of my abilities, but, as I doubt you could recreate anything I've done without my assistance or instruction, I have little concern for that."

"You and I both know perfectly well you'd… probably... be fine here until aid arrived, you can likely fit in amongst the squalor of this place until aid or an investigative team arrived and sensed you." Harry frowned a bit and reached up to briefly stroke Hedwig's feathers. "So, why don't you try again and tell me why you _really_ want to come with us?"

Harry's words had kept Aayla completely off balance. She tried to think of a response to his piercing question, made all the more disorienting because he hadn't looked back at her once while he spoke. On the other hand, the avian on his shoulder was unnerving, as it stood with its head turned completely around glaring at her as if she were some barbarian intruding upon a holy place.

Ahsoka wasn't any help either. She raised an eyebrow at Aayla in open invitation to speak, while letting her know that she was completely on her own here. She needed to think fast, and wasn't sure how to convince him.

There were many reasons she wanted to go with Harry and Ahsoka. The Council's orders were a given, but honestly didn't hold priority at the moment. She felt a lingering sense of duty that related to the slaves who were back in the cargo hold, as she was well aware that, without the intervention of the Jedi Order, that she too would've been a slave at this very moment, if not dead from being 'too used' at her current age.

Harry's reaction and handling of the slaves had been as much of a jolt as the use of his Force powers. There were many bounty hunters in the galaxy who would have simply claimed and sold the slaves themselves if they managed to acquire a slaver's ship. Though Aayla had run into one or two who would free them like Harry was attempting to do.

The fact that he not only was providing them transport to a safe world, but making sure the slavers themselves were dealt with by one of the worlds completely against the practice, was another mark in his favor.

However, she couldn't escape thinking about his unique abilities regarding the Force. The things he could do were, in short, simultaneously amazing and terrifying, and she hoped to understand more of how he could utilize the Force in a way that was so fundamentally different than anything she had previously seen.

He even had his own fanatical version of what appeared to be some offshoot of Yoda's species hanging around. That tiny creature actually inspired a tiny sliver of terror in her heart. She had watched him almost as closely as she had Harry. The short being seemed awash in the Force, possibly even more than Yoda, when he was channeling the Force to the best of his ability. Most alarmingly, from what she had seen, the only person who seemed to stand between the universe and the absolute chaos the creature would inspire was Harry and his orders to not take things too far.

The same Harry, who even Ahsoka had claimed to want to follow all while she doubted his sanity, and the same tiny thing who thought it acceptable to stack a pile of naked unconscious bodies in a hangar bay, and who seemed very enthusiastic with doing so.

Which led her back to his question for her. She wanted to know more about this man. She wanted to know more about his 'people' that he kept referring to, especially the 'alternative education' that Anakin had mentioned when he reported what Ahsoka had written in her message to him. The Council actually was her last priority at the moment, especially after what it had done to Ahsoka.

But how could she explain that to him?

She recalled that Ahsoka had received direction on what to do regarding Harry when she had sought guidance in the Force. Yoda had also been curiously insistent she listen to the urging of the Force. Quickly she closed her eyes and took a deep breath, hoping it would aid her as she was beginning to feel a bit desperate about how to persuade Harry she meant him no harm.

She opened her senses to the Force and then after a moment a frown crossed her face. She could feel Ahsoka, not more than a few meters away. Though her presence was slightly muddled, it was only a little bit.

The Force sang to her regarding the young former padawan, and combined with her empathy, let her know that the young Togrutan was excited by the new course her life had taken. She could feel the sadness Ahsoka felt about the way she had been betrayed by the Order. There was anger and hurt about being a victim of Barriss, and purposefully trying to keep her distance from Aayla, though she held out hope that Aayla wouldn't end up in the same category she now classed all Jedi save her former Master. Skywalker being the only one that stood by her.

The problem wasn't Ahsoka. The problem was this Harry Potter.

She couldn't sense him at all in the Force. Generally Force users could sense other Force users, even those of nominal power when they were close by. Powerful Force users could be felt on the same planet, or occasionally even the same system if one were sufficiently powerful and attuned.

The Jedi had never learned to mask their presence to any significant degree. In fact, the only person she was aware who could hide their Force presence was the mysterious Sith Lord Sidious they had been searching for without success for the past few years. But here she was, only a few feet from Harry, and she couldn't sense him at all.

But more than that, it was like he didn't even exist. Nothing at all. No sense of life that she would get from any other life form in the universe. The owl on his shoulder actually appeared more open to the Force than him. On one hand that troubled her, on the other she didn't seem to sense him as any immediate threat.

She took a breath and put that aside. She closed her eyes and allowed herself to open up herself completely to the Force for guidance. Far more than simply extending her senses, completely submerging herself in the Force. It was something she did rarely. In part because doing so left her completely vulnerable to physical attack as she became less aware of her immediate surroundings, and in part because it was a practice that had grown ever more difficult, even futile in recent years.

In recent decades, the Dark Side of the Force shrouded everything. It had been quite slow and insidious how their enemies had risen to power and slowly found a way to sabotage the entire Jedi Order's ability to rely upon clear guidance from the Force. She herself had not had a truly successful immersion in the Force since she had been a child, and it took someone of Master Yoda's patience and connection to the Force to see anything at all anymore. Opening herself completely would have been futile.

Until now.

This time it was different.

For the first time in years she opened up hoping for a faint nudge or some hint whether to go with Harry or venture into Nar Shaddaa on her own. What she got was something completely unexpected. The instant she opened herself to the Force, it seemed to surround her and fill her in a way she hadn't been able to experience in a long time.

Immediately, a vision filled her head, and at once, she could see the general state of each path that sprang forth from this point in time. There was no hesitation or cloudiness from the Force. Somehow the Cloak of the Darkside that even she had recognized had dampened most Jedi's ability to foretell the future seemed to be neutralized, and the Force seemed… eager, even desperate for her to see. Though for the life of her Aayla could not comprehend why the cloak had no effect or why the Force seemed to have an emotion attached to it at all.

The two paths came at her in a rush of blurred images. Along the path where she ventured into Nar Shaddaa she saw smattering of images, none for more than an instant, but almost no context beyond the first few flashes.

Her being picked up by a retrieval ship sent by the Jedi. Limping onto the ship, from an injury she reaggravated in the past few hectic days on Nar Shaddaa. Her limp much less noticeable as she walked into the council room reporting back at the Council, what she had seen. The frustration that the council expressed that she couldn't find more.

Then…there were rapid fire flashes of nothing but death, violence, and endless suffering down that road.

She saw the death of Jedi Masters, all falling to mysterious shadows. She saw several Masters cut down in a flurry. She saw death after death of almost every Jedi she knew, in a never ending torrent of pain, betrayal, and horror.

Many deaths came too fast for her to pick up on, but she experienced the pain of each one deeply. Others were jarring, Mace Windu, one hand missing as he fell through the air in the Coruscant night, ejected from a skyscraper only to freefall to his doom down one of the fathomless trenches that lay between buildings.

She felt the heat and acrid smell of lava as Anakin Skywalker lay on the ground burning alive, now devoid of all his limbs instead of just his one prosthetic arm. That limb, which had been once again removed halfway, was reaching forward as if pleading.

Master Yoda, strongest of any in the Force, simply fading away to nothing as one single faceless and helpless Jedi looked on.

She saw the Jedi Temple burning, the flames lighting up the Coruscant night sky. Smoke pouring out of several different windows, and an overwhelming sense of sorrow.

She saw the bodies of Jedi, young and old strewn about the Temple carelessly. The corpses left where they fell, victims of this mysterious enemy. Younglings, barely old enough to have been issued their first training sabers, butchered like animals behind the hiding spots that had been discovered.

Then she saw her own death, with blaster fire that impacted her from behind. She felt the heat of the world she was on, and vaguely recognized Felucia from a previous mission. Her sweat covered body felt heavy as it collapsed under the explosions of pain from behind, pain that quickly became numbness. The feeling of overwhelming shock and betrayal as she tried desperately to breathe with collapsed lungs while her own face was half buried in mud, right before she joined the Force in death.

Then blackness.

Blackness spreading out to cloud the future as far as she could see. Years.

Decades.

It shocked and appalled her just how badly things seemed, and she wondered why her normal meditations didn't reveal such a future as the most likely one she faced. Especially since she wouldn't have ever imagined any sort of fork regarding Harry to be in her future. It took everything she had not to lose her focus and simply vomit right there where she stood.

She turned her mind's eye down towards the other path, almost afraid of what she would see if she pursued it. Once more, flashes of images that came at her in a barrage bombarded her. It confused her because, much like the other path, there was great darkness present here as well. But this time, there was a beacon of light that pressed against it.

It was clear that there was a conflict coming… an insidious one inside the miasma of war that surrounded them all.

She saw an image of Ahsoka and Harry dueling, Ahsoka had a look of determination on her face while she wielded a surprisingly yellow lightsaber, all while Harry had nothing in his hands. In fact he waved cheekily at her in an effort to rile her up. She narrowed her eyes and leaped forward, swinging her saber at him while he stood there looking supremely unconcerned as a competent Jedi attacked him.

She saw Harry speaking with a wookiee on some sort of viewscreen. Harry was pointing a finger at the wookiee in a way no one fond of retaining all their limbs were ever likely to do. "Don't put anyone or anything you care about in my way. You'll just lose them. That's a promise." Harry was supremely unconcerned with the angry looking wookiee's response to him.

She saw herself and Ahsoka as well as two other figures shadowed and hidden standing and inexplicably pointing … sticks? at a rock while Harry stood to the side. Another male stood next to Harry, though his features were hazy and Aayla couldn't get any identifying features off of him.

She could feel frustration from herself, for some reason the rock vexed her incredibly, but… she felt amusement and even a bit of smugness from Ahsoka and Harry. She looked at the other figures but they remained shrouded in the shadows, though not because she couldn't see them, but because the vision seemed to obscure their identities.

She saw the war between the Separatists and the Republic continue to expand, but their small group was now peripheral to it, and no longer participating on a daily basis alongside her troops. Aayla felt she was bodiless as she watched several ships, formerly under her command make the jump to hyperspace, leaving her behind, but she felt… content by this turn of events.

She saw Harry, a cloak around his shoulders blowing in the cold evening wind and waves lapping up on the shore near his feet. He stood on a beach, alone, and she could see landing craft from Separatists droid armies in the sky in front of him. His hand loosely holding a stick similar to the ones she had seen earlier.

Beside him stood Ahsoka Tano, whose attention bounced back and forth between the oncoming ships and Harry, a worried expression riding freely on her face. "Are you sure about this?" His response was a confident grin.

She saw herself and Ahsoka on opposite sides dueling a hooded and cloaked figure wielding two red light sabers. They were on a platform of some sort as bitterly cold winds buffeted all three of them. This opponent had already showed themselves to be skilled, and Aayla was concerned the two of them might not be able to take the figure. Ahsoka had a burn mark on her leg already, though she was only moving a little bit gingerly.

She saw Harry and Anakin Skywalker standing toe to toe, Anakin's expression serious and confrontational, while Harry's was curious as he looked at Skywalker. Harry's expression changing as he seemed to suddenly understand something. Something that at first angered then confused Anakin.

She saw, nebulous visions of a simple conversation, where the unknown topic discussed shatters the events that she could feel were long since locked into occurring. "It's… not possible!" protested a multitude of voices.

She couldn't hear but whatever they talked about _changed_ things. Aayla didn't know what they were talking about but it suddenly changed things for the entire galaxy. As if everything suddenly lurched a foot to the left and went spinning off a pre-ordained path.

She saw images of Harry, Ahsoka, and herself together as they traveled. She saw herself sitting in the very cockpit she now sat while she eagerly devoured a tome of knowledge, not some faux antique but an actual paper book. An academic text that would normally bore her to tears, but at the moment was the most enrapturing thing she'd ever read. She looked up from the book to see an outrageously amused and smug Harry smiling down at her, while holding a steaming cup of some liquid.

Finally, her current visioned changed, just as she realized what her path should be, that somehow her bonds to this man and Ahsoka could someday be elevated higher than her loyalty to the Jedi Order.

She stood nervously, the standard Jedi cloak that she wore infrequently pooled on the ground at her feet and her standard black leather outfit on her body, lightsaber hanging at her side. Despite this being a relatively normal state of affairs, she was very nervous. She bit her bottom lip, as she looked up into Harry's eyes and nodded a little bit. The expression on Harry's face, very familiar to the one she had witnessed in the hold before he leaned forward and, in slow motion, slid an ornate collar, the despised symbol of slavery and ownership around the galaxy, around her neck.

She felt it close over her throat and heard it click shut ominously, with a sense of permanence about it. Though the most disturbing part of all was a sense of relief she felt? She didn't have time to focus on that before the vision shifted again.

As she was reeling from the shock of a future where she ever felt relief at becoming a slave, a final image appeared.

Herself and Harry, locked in an intimate embrace, emotions of lust, love, and longing blasting through her vision before her senses returned to normal just as the feelings reached their pinnacle.

She took a deep breath, shock and confusion over that last parting image momentarily taking all her attention as she tried to process it. She shook herself, literally shaking slightly in order to focus herself back in the physical here and now. It took her almost half a minute to regain her focus, and she realized just why it was always Yoda who was the one sinking into those trances and why the others did so much less frequently.

It took an incredibly high amount of focus and control. Even from that brief exposure, Aayla was breathing like she had just ran a marathon and her skin was covered in sweat, and it had _nothing_ to do with the final image in her vision, not at all. Aayla assured herself.

Now wasn't the time to ponder any of what she had seen, especially that last image. She turned back to Harry, who was still purposefully ignoring her, and caught the look of concern from Ahsoka who had stopped whatever it was she was doing previously in the co-pilots seat to look at her.

She swallowed roughly, as her throat had gone dry somehow amidst the chaos of her Force vision, and began to speak. "I apologize for originally speaking to you under false pretenses when I first met you. I admit, my original orders from the Council were to observe you and former Padawan Tano to determine if you were a threat to the Order and the Republic. I wish to join you on your journey with Ahsoka, and not just until we arrive at Kashyyyk."

She winced internally wondering why now, when she needed them, her speaking skills which were always superlative, seemed to desert her. She reviewed what she had said and realized she sounded much like a robot.

Harry tilted his head, contemplative expression on his face as he looked out at the docking bay. When he spoke his voice was still cold, but more even and conversational, less biting. "You realize, I knew why you came before you even arrived, right? I had no doubt how the Jedi Order would act once Ahsoka decided to come with me."

"Believe me, I'm familiar with meddling old men who sit in ivory towers think they know best and that it gives them the right to try to run people's lives." His snort was derisive for a moment before he finally turned in the captain's chair to face her.

His emerald eyes were intense, practically glowing. Aayla had never seen something so captivating in her life. The effect had her instinctively checking herself to make sure that she wasn't having a mind trick performed on her.

"You were sent to check on _former _Padawan Ahsoka Tano. She's under my instruction now, for as long as she likes. As for me? You're supposed to determine if I present a threat to the Order?" Harry couldn't help but laugh, a laugh that was a combination of amusement and mocking.

"Fine, here's my honest self-appraisal. Take it back to your Masters if you want." The way he sneered the words masters, made it clear he wasn't using it in a term of respect but one of derision, as if they owned her. "I could probably bring the entire Order down to its very foundations... _if_ I chose to."

"But, I don't have to do anything. Your Order is doing a fine job of that themselves. I've stayed off their radar for years, simply because I didn't want the annoyance of dealing with them trying to bother me. But I can promise you, you could pit me against your greatest warrior or master, and I doubt I would break a sweat in killing them if that were my goal." Both Aayla and Ahsoka had quick intakes of breath at Harry's blunt assessment and the calm and uncaring way he made that statement.

She had heard that sort of boasting before. From Sith she had fought spouting about their power. From bounty hunters who got too full of themselves… or drunk… or both. But it was all boasting or grandstanding. Harry wasn't saying this in a boastful tone. Actually the way he was saying was that he couldn't care less, and was entirely apathetic to the idea. He was speaking with a surety, as if stating a simple fact.

Harry looked unperturbed at their reaction, and shook his head at Aayla sadly, "The Jedi Order and these... Sith… I've heard so much about, seem to have no concept of what magic, or your 'Force' if you prefer can truly accomplish."

He gestured at Ahsoka, "Ask her, if you take the oath, that is. I've spent hours describing just the basic subjects I was taught as a teenager in one of my people's schools, and hinted at dozens of other subjects along the way."

Aayla glanced at Ahsoka, to see Ahsoka's head bob in acknowledgement.

Harry turned to look at Ahsoka with a brief smile as he addressed her, "What we've discussed _barely_ scratches the surface."

Harry turned his head back to Aayla, his expression serious once more and his eyes piercing hers like they were reading her soul. "Am I dangerous? I assume the bodies in our brig answer that."

"Am I threat to the Order? I could be. But… hell, Dobby could also be a threat if he got it in his head that he was protecting me by doing so, and I didn't countermand the idea," Harry sighed a bit, this time more in irritation, "As it is, Dobby is well aware that he is not supposed to _help_ me unless I ask for it… or tell him otherwise."

"Do I intend to harm the Order? Not unless they go out of their way to provoke me for some reason. If that happens, I doubt I'd have any qualms about destroying them, much like I've done to any cult or movement that I've ran across in my life that felt they could tell me how to live my life..." Harry looked at the two women who were both frowning and exchanging looks at that statement, matching looks of confusion spread over both of their features.

Aayla stared at Harry. That was never a statement that she had ever expected to hear. She had honestly not suspected him of being a Sith, and this kind of attitude was one that the Sith never had in regards to the Jedi Order. The dislike was common, usually it was hatred. But Harry was expressing something else. Utter apathy. He didn't like the Jedi Order… but didn't seem to focus any ire at them. In fact he just didn't seem to care about the Jedi Order, except as a possible annoyance. She had no idea how to deal with that.

After a long pause, Harry slowly turned his chair back to the main console and started ship's repulsorlift engines, "Dobby? Is everything taken care of and the ship secured?"

"Yes, Master Harry Potter, sir!" Dobby's voice called out though he didn't appear.

"Good, thank you. Go back to the Cargo hold for now and watch the women back there to ensure they're okay and aren't jostled by take-off." Harry ordered and then called out, "Minnie, do we have clearance to depart?"

"Er, may I remind you, sir, that we are on Nar Shaddaa, Mister Potter?" The droid's voice responded.

"Oh… right. Flight plan optional." He chuckled a bit and then shook his head moving his hands to the ship's controls. The rising pitch in the sound of the engines made it clear that the ship was preparing for take off.

The ship lifted off to silence in the cockpit.

Ahsoka was the first to react to what had happened. She flashed Aayla a smile, and touched her hand quickly, before she turned to the instruments in front of her and began to make adjustments, and check readings.

Aayla stood for a few moments longer, as the realization that she had been accepted aboard came slowly. When she finally gained a hold of her senses, she whispered, "Thank you, Harry." then sat down and strapped herself into one of the navigation officer's chairs behind the pilot and co-pilot's seats.

Harry didn't acknowledge her whisper immediately, though she was sure he had heard it. That bird of his followed her movement with its head and continued to glare at her, but it appeared to be a least slightly less vicious than before.

Maybe.

They took off and blasted off of the moon and rose through the atmosphere in a matter of two minutes. Nar Shaddaa had no restrictions on when the transition from repulsorlift to sublight engines could occur, as the moon was already polluted almost beyond salvation. Aayla was surprised that there were no ships that tried to prevent them from take-off.

"Harry, what kind of sensors do you have on this ship?" asked Ahsoka suddenly her focus on one of the readouts.

He glanced over at the screen Ahsoka had keyed up, and he smirked, "A little bit of this, a little bit of that."

She gave him an exasperated look, and continued, "No really, I don't recognize half these displays and readouts, and I've been around most of the bleeding edge military sensor packages in the galaxy for the last two years."

"Slum around in the Galaxy a bit, and you'll find that there are many things out there that Sienar, Incom, Subpro, KDY, and Rendili wish they'd dreamed up for their ships, much less actually developed." Harry grinned a little bit. "Why? See something interesting?"

Ahsoka nodded slowly, "I... think so." She pointed to the display, "There are some sort of ghost signatures out there that are only being picked up by this one scanner… the other two show absolutely nothing."

Harry glanced over and hummed thoughtfully. "Oh that scanner, something an acquaintance of mine developed based on an idea I described to him. It's useful for picking up objects without power or whose presence only registers physically. It's an extremely advanced version that combines what my world calls sonar and radar. It doesn't use sound waves or radio waves, too slow obviously, but the concept is the same, just with an energy base I was able to provide an emitter and receiver for. What are your thoughts?" Harry asked Ahsoka curiously.

He was fairly sure he knew what was going on, but knew better than most how just providing all the answers could hurt someone far more than letting them take a little extra time to figure it out on their own.

"I… think… it's two stealthed or powered craft that I think normal sensors, short of some of the stuff SkyGuy plays around with wouldn't be able to see." Ahsoka ventured as she looked to Harry for confirmation.

He nodded, as if he had been expecting it. "Your friends, Cad Bane and Aurra Sing weren't among the bounty Hunters we picked up or made an attempt on us. This could be either or both of them, about to make their run on us. Or it could be two other bounty hunters hoping to take a shot and being smart enough not to enter the chaos on the ground."

Ahsoka quickly hit some buttons on the console in front of her. "Shields are now at full, Harry." She stated, though she was somewhat surprised that activating the shields didn't seem to cause too much of a drain on the power cells, because the ship's speed didn't slow.

She took a look at the amount of energy the shield capacitors put out and winced. She hadn't noticed before but the shield emitters on this ship... sucked. A couple of blasts would take them out of the air.

Harry glanced at her, and Aayla noticed his eyebrow rise, but he didn't comment further at Ahsoka's actions.

"We're being hailed." Ahsoka stated as a light began flashing on the console.

"Well? We wouldn't want to ignore them would we? That might be rude." Harry said and, to Ahsoka's relief and horror, for the first time since he'd left to begin stealing ships, his voice slipped into one of amusement.

She felt relief that he was finally coming down from the anger at finding those abused women, and horror that he decided to do it when about to be shot by possibly two of the most dangerous bounty hunters alive in the galaxy.

Ahsoka hesitated only a moment more, as she realized exactly what he had said, as she had been listening more to the tone of it. She snorted at the idea of Harry caring about being rude, before she nodded and flicked the switch on the board. Immediately, a voice came over the comms. A deep and rumbling voice entered the cockpit, practically screaming at them, "-ll we want is the Jedi! Turn her over to us and we may let you live. Don't, and be destroyed."

"Well, that's certainly a tempting offer. But we're just gonna have to pass. She's very happy where she's at. She obviously gets to have much more intelligent conversations, excellent food, not to mention my large stock of high quality lubricant and wide assortment of sonic vibrating tools," Harry said brightly, responding to the hail.

"Harry!" Ahsoka hissed in indignation as she shot him a glare and absently swatted his shoulder.

Aayla just stared in shocked silence.

He just winked at her in response. Though as he flicked the switch he noticed the light had begun to flash again signaling another incoming message. He flicked the switch again to open the channel. A second voice filled the cockpit, in contrast to the first voice it wasn't screaming. It was accented and slightly raspy as it spoke calmly.

"Outbound freighter Gr-eye-findor,"

Harry winced slightly at the butchering of the pronunciation, but the voice continued. "You will come to a complete halt, power down all engines, shields and weapons, and prepare to turn over the former Jedi. Failure to do so will result in complete destruction of your ship after I have removed the bounty."

Ahsoka had gone rigid in the co-pilot's seat and hissed out, "That's him. That's Cad Bane."

"Oh, well then. We shouldn't leave him waiting," Harry chuckled and flicked a switch to open the channel. "It's pronounced Griff-in-dor!"

There was hesitation on the channel then the eloquent reply came back from Cad Bane. "What?"

"My ship's name, it's Gryffindor. Pronounced 'if', not 'eye'." Harry replied sounding indignant. Then he smiled, as if remembering a half-forgotten memory, "Honestly, can't you _read_."

There was a brief hesitation, "I do not care how to say your ship's name." Cad Bane's voice came back. "All I care about is the bounty. So halt your ship before I-"

"I just think it's a rather important thing." Harry said, sounding indignant as he interrupted the spiel. "Look, if you're going to go around threatening to blow a ship up, especially one that looks as awesome as this one, you should at least have the courtesy to get the name right."

There was a full five seconds pause as the person seemed to process that. "This is Cad Bane. Halt now, or your refusal shall result in the complete destruction of your ship." The voice said harshly, more than a little bit of irritation to it.

Harry rolled his eyes. "You already used that threat, Mr. Bane. You should try and be more creative. 'result in complete destruction of your ship' I mean really? I'd ask who writes your material but it's painfully obvious you need some lessons. Though I can hardly say I'm surprised. Bounty hunters these days, what is the galaxy coming to? So droll and uninspired."

"I mean you could have said things about spacing me, about a slow death, about hunting down anyone I cared about. But_ nooo_. You went with 'result in complete destruction of your ship.' Makes you sound like a droid." Harry hadn't slowed the ship at all, nor had he stopped talking to the bounty hunter.

"Oooh. You could totally have a droid designation. How does I-2-DUM sound?" Harry asked sounding earnest.

There was no reply on the com, instead the sound of turbolasers hitting the shield from glancing shots across the bow was the only response.

"Well fine, see if I ever try and help again. Arse." Harry replied and cut off the channel with a flick of a switch and continued to make minute adjustments to his course, as if they hadn't just received death threats from the bounty hunters and been shot with a black market enhanced turbolaser.

Both Ahsoka and Aayla were watching him wide-eyed. Ahsoka quickly turned back to her controls though Aayla kept staring, wondering if he indeed was utterly insane. Taunting Cad Bane was never a recipe for success, and Harry seemed utterly uncaring.

The ship was rocked by more turbolaser blasts, but Harry just kept flying in the direction of the outbound beacon they were headed towards to line up with the appropriate hyperspace vector they needed. He didn't make any attempt to change course, and seemed to ignore the shots being fired. Instead he seemed to be humming a little tune to himself.

Ahsoka spoke up after about twenty seconds, a little bit of panic in her voice "Harry? Shields are at less than fifty percent. Shouldn't you be making some evasive maneuvers?"

"Nah, It's a waste of time and fuel." Harry replied nonchalantly.

"Our shields are about to go down! They've lined up near perfect kill shots on our engine and reactor, and once the shields go down we'll be sitting ducks! You need to do something." Ahsoka insisted as another blast rocked the ship

"Shields down to fifteen percent. One more volley like that and they'll be gone. Your shields suck. Seriously… you have the worst shields ever." She said echoing his statements from the day they met about her lying skill.

Harry nodded in acknowledgement of the statement, but seemed unconcerned and didn't change what he was doing in the slightest.

"Harry, if you're not going to evade them, please let me take over flying from this station." Ahsoka was trying to keep her voice calm, but it came out in a plea. Ahsoka was an excellent pilot, and her instincts had only gotten better while travelling with Skywalker.

Aayla herself was good as well, and had logged some of the highest total hours amongst all Jedi in her starfighter during the war, she was also now certain that she was traveling with someone who was completely insane. She looked at her navigation console hoping they were close to jumping to hyperspace. Her heart fell when she saw the computer was still finishing up hyperspace calculations and still a good two minutes from being outside the moon's gravity well.

Harry finally relented with a sigh as he transferred control to Ahsoka, "Don't know what you're so worried about." He leaned back in his chair, reaching out to stroke Hedwig's feathers.

Ahsoka began evasive maneuvers without missing a beat. She spun the craft and began to spiral it in the same direction they had been traveling while no longer on the straight line course. Her maneuvers paid off as the next volley passed by the cockpit window harmlessly.

Twenty seconds later, as Aayla announced the navicomputer had a course plotted, another massive broadside was delivered when Ahsoka swerved the ship a bit late. "Shields down below five percent. One more hit and we're done for!" Ahsoka's voice held a slight tinge of panic in it.

"If you say so," Harry said nonchalantly. He saw Ahsoka shoot a glare at him, so he grinned at her, "Hey Blue, how long until we're at the proper point for transition to hyperspace?"

"Another minute more, we're barely out of Nal Hutta's gravity field," Aayla ground out ignoring the nickname that he had apparently stuck to her. She decided that on the off chance that they survived she would take it up with him then.

Ahsoka gasped out trying to jerk the ship up to avoid a strike, but knowing it was going to be too late and the shields weren't going to hold, "Brace yourself!" The ship rocked again as it took another hit. But… otherwise nothing happened.

Ahsoka frowned, and glanced at the shields to see if they had held, but the shields read as completely down. Her shock caused her to completely miss the next wave as the ship once more rocked from the impact of turbolasers.

"Why aren't we dead?" sputtered Ahsoka.

"Oh, you say something?" Harry asked, a flip of the switch transferring control of flight back to his side as he took control of his ship once more.

"We're good for the conversion to Hyperspace now, Harry," shouted Aayla, sounding like she expected to be finished off any second.

Harry unhurriedly pulled back on levers in the center of the console and the ship shot forward, the stars turning to streaks as they jumped to hyperspace.

Harry sat back in his seat and shook his head, before either of companions could say anything he called out. "Dobby."

"Yes, Master Harry Potter sir?" The house elf asked, suddenly appearing in the seat between Harry and Ahsoka.

"Was anything knocked around during that?" Harry asked.

"No, no damage, Master Harry." Dobby replied.

"Good, I forgot to ask, but we'll need to check the hull, and make sure that nothing was attached while those hunters were mucking around earlier when we were on the ground. I don't want to be tracked." Harry said as a thought occurred to him.

"Dobby already be doing that before we took off Master Harry Potter. Removed three things bad men attached." Dobby replied proudly.

"Good job." Harry said, and the house elf seemed to quiver with pride and swelled up before disappearing with a pop.

Ahsoka had turned to him and the instant Dobby disappeared she got the first word in. "Okay, tell me what I missed. I didn't even feel you do anything that time."

Harry grinned at her, clearly pleased that she worked out he had done something with Magic even if she didn't know what.

Aayla spoke up, her voice more of a demand. "That was incredibly reckless… we could have died! What was with your complete lack of caring that we were being fired upon?"

Harry grinned at her impishly. "Magic Blue, simply magic."

"Harry!" Ahsoka said with an exasperated sigh, her curiosity shining clearly on her face.

Harry's expression turned more serious and he stared at them both contemplatively. Ahsoka had learned to recognize that this was his way of deciding whether to show something or more often it was generally trying to determine how to go about doing so. Though his eyes flicked to Aayla more than once, and Ahsoka realized that he might be more hesitant to show her with Aayla in the room.

He eventually nodded, and held up a finger to tell them to wait, before he turned back to his console, set the autopilot, and keyed the last systems in that would warn of any disturbances detected in hyperspace.

"Come with me," he finally said, his voice once more cheerful as he stood up. He walked past them and out of the cockpit, humming a tune, and seemingly uncaring of the fact that Hedwig had remained perched on his shoulder. The bird for her part seemed completely at ease with her now mobile perch.

Aayla glanced at Ahsoka, at the sudden whiplash of his emotions and couldn't stop herself from asking, "Is he always like this?"

Ahsoka grimaced as her eyes followed Harry's retreating form, "Usually he's worse, at least he's not skipping this time."

A voice suddenly shouted after them from the cargo hold, "I told you I was not skipping! I _frolicked_!"

They caught up to him as he was re-entering the cargo hold. Aayla looked around as they entered, once more reminded of Harry's display of Force use earlier. The inside of this cargo hold was now bigger than the ship itself and her mind still struggled to wrap around it. Her senses felt the slight hum of the Force around them, but couldn't pinpoint any area of specific origin.

As she pondered this, Harry absently summoned a piece of debris that was a long pipe nearly as tall as he was from the corner of the hold. The white bird took that as her signal to fly from Harry's shoulder and head back toward the cockpit.

He moved a fair distance away from all of the sleeping former slaves in the hold. He turned to look at both of them. "Blue, could I use you for a demonstration? You have your light sword, right?"

Aayla looked puzzled and nodded hesitantly. She unclipped one from her belt and held it in her hand, she didn't really want to turn over her lightsaber to the man. She had a second one on her leg for use, but wasn't keen on giving up her weapon, even if she wasn't getting dangerous vibes from Harry. "Yes, I have my light_saber_..." she said emphasizing the name.

"Sword, saber, whatever." Harry said with a smirk on his face. He was enjoying winding her up and irritating the Jedi Master. "Do me a favor, cut through this pipe would you?"

Aayla frowned, meeting his expression trying to determine if he was serious. Before she nodded and ignited her lightsaber, its soft hum filled the air.

Harry stared at it for barely a moment before he was nearly overcome by laughter. He eventually managed to get his chuckles under nominal control and shook his head before he looked at Ahsoka, "You know, _her_ lightsaber? Blue... totally appropriate."

Ahsoka grinned in response, snorting a little bit while remembering their discussion of lightsaber and color from earlier.

Aayla was watching for any trick, especially with the amount of laughter Harry had suddenly been overcome by, so she was more cautious than normal. Harry was holding the pipe horizontally in front of him, with plenty of space between his hands.

When he had no reaction but to widen his smirk when he saw the saber pointed towards him, she swiped it in a quick slash vertically in front of him. The swipe took her saber through the pipe, not even slowing down the swipe while Harry made no effort to move. He didn't even flinch back, an uncommon reaction when someone is having a lightsaber slash in front of one's face.

The pipe easily split in two, with Harry holding both sides of the pipe as it separated.

"What was the point of that?" Aayla asked looking puzzled. She was well aware of her lightsaber's ability to cut through almost anything.

Harry grinned and put both sides of the pipe together and both Aayla and Ahsoka felt the surge of the Force and watched as the burnt ends of the pipe fused back together looking like nothing had happened in the first place. He grinned at Ahsoka's questioning expression. "Simple repairing charm, remarkably versatile and useful in all sorts of situations."

Ahsoka frowned, "Repairing charm… does exactly what it says, it repairs things…" She ventured, having found the naming of many of the spells Harry told her or showed her self-explanatory. Harry nodded looking pleased as Ahsoka nodded in understanding though it didn't change Aayla's questioning look.

Harry glanced down at the piping, and there was another small surge in the Force causing them both to look back at the pipe though they couldn't see any change in it afterward. Both of them could tell the Force had flown into the object but no idea for what purpose.

Harry held the pipe in front of him horizontally again and then raised his eyebrow to look at Aayla, "Blue, would you use your lightsaber again?"

This time Aayla was less hesitant and twisted her lightsaber in a quick over hand and downward slash. The lightsaber hummed as it swiped through the air, only this time Aayla jerked slightly as her lightsaber encountered resistance. There was the sound of sizzling and sparks flew off of the metal pole held in Harry's hands.

A ghost of a smile moved over Harry's expression while Aayla looked in disbelief as the pipe she had just swiped through held firm against her lightsaber. She frowned and exerted more downward force, pressing the lightsaber against the piping between Harry's hands. More sparks flew off the pipe but she was still unable to cut through it.

Aayla pushed for a few more seconds before she pulled back. She looked at her lightsaber but it hummed just like normal. She looked to the pipe and there was a brown scoring mark where her lightsaber had connected against the metal, but otherwise the pipe appeared relatively undamaged.

Aayla was relieved to note that Ahsoka was staring looking just as surprised as she felt. "Some… trick with mandalorian iron?" Aayla asked, thinking of one of the few physical substances that could resist a lightsaber in that manner.

"That… is the effects of an unbreakable charm." Harry said with a chuckle and then he looked at Ahsoka. "Three guesses as to what it does."

"I don't know, that one seems a little bit difficult to decipher _Master_." Ahsoka replied with a little laugh before she looked serious. "So, it makes something unbreakable?"

"That's… physically impossible…" breathed Aayla as she tried to come up with some other statement. She knew that the Force could be used in small bursts to make a person stronger or faster, reinforcing body parts to survive falls from great heights, but to make something unbreakable... that... blew her mind. She was finding herself constantly off balance and she'd only been around Harry a few hours.

Harry ignored Aayla focusing on Ahsoka as she prodded the pipe with a finger experimentally. "Every piece of the Gryffindor's hull and structure has this spell imbued into it." Harry looked down at the pipe in his hand and spun it in his hands effortlessly. "Albeit I put quite a bit more power into the spells. I only put a moderate amount of power into the pipe for a demonstration purpose."

Aayla watched as Harry spun the pipe around in his hands. Her eyes narrowed slightly, the ease of movement spoke of more than a little physical familiarity with such a motion, though she didn't say anything.

Harry was ignoring her and focused on Ahsoka whose eyes were narrowed in concentration as she stared at the pipe. Her voice was tentative as she worked things out. "If you have that charm on every piece of metal on the hull..., wouldn't it be possible for the armor on the outside to crush the inside? Just because it can't be broken doesn't mean that it can't be moved or the pieces couldn't separate." She ventured curiously.

"You are exactly right, and that's why I also have the charm on every panel, support strut, rivet, weld and anywhere else I could possibly imagine on the ship." Harry replied, looking pleased at the way her mind worked things out, then a look of irritation crossed his face. "Took a bloody long time to do, and then Dobby asked me why I didn't just shrink it and apply it to the entire thing at once. Cheeky bugger laughed for hours at me afterward."

Ahsoka nodded and then frowned, "What about the other effects of turbolaser blasts? Like... heat and such?"

"Cooling charms, impervious charms, which tend to cover all the other bases." Harry replied, looking even more pleased. "And all the charms on the metal are inscribed with runes as a backup."

"Runes?" Ahsoka asked and she puzzled over the unfamiliar term.

"Yeah. Remember what I said about the more power you put into the casting of a spell, the longer it was likely to last. Runes gives spells a sort of permanence. They're sort of a back up and can make spells that could only last minutes or hours, last centuries or longer. A lot of times they were used on tombs and burial plots on my homeworld, mostly as protection and curses to prevent people from disturbing them."

"Curses?" Aayla interjected, that sounding incredibly ominous in her mind.

Harry looked at her a moment as if debating whether or not to answer her question and then nodded. "Magic can do a great many things, and there are some very bad uses for it. Many wizards put elaborate curses and protections on their graves and resting places so that they wouldn't be disturbed and so that no one could use their bodies for any sort of nefarious purposes."

"Eww. Gross!" Ahsoka spat out, looking disgusted.

Harry blinked and then laughed. "I think I'm rubbing off on you, because that's not what I meant at all. But now that I think about it, some of the curses were oddly specific, so I wonder if that was what the wizards meant."

"Still... That's just gross, _Master._" Ahsoka replied, shaking her head as if to rid herself of the image.

"Glad to see you are learning something _Miss Soaky._" Harry replied with a good natured grin.

Ahsoka shook her head and chuckled a little bit, the banter with Harry was so easy to go back and forth with. He seemed to enjoy it as much as she did, and also seemed to enjoy making her think about magic. She had realized early on to discard all notions of possible and impossible, and approach it from the perspective that Harry suggested. "Anything is possible, but actions can have consequences."

She shook her head and replayed everything he had told her as she considered the events of the day. A thought occurred to her, "What about when the computer was knocked out then? It was still hit with a charge and it fried the computer." Ahsoka asked with a frown marring her face.

Harry actually looked a bit sheepish, "To be honest? I totally forgot about that possibility. The bounty hunters must have used a portable ion charge. They opened a panel and attached the charge right to the wiring. Since the panel was still moveable it was a hole in the defenses. I'll cast a sticking charm on the panels so that it can't happen again. Dobby was more than a little irritated with them."

"Bounty hunters aren't usually wealthy enough to have those sorts of things, especially as they're hideously expensive and tend to be one-offs. The only other people who have them are capital ships. Usually their crews use them to disable craft completely after they've pulled it on board. I try to make it a point not to let capital ships board me willy nilly. Anyway... now you know why I wasn't very concerned. The most that would happen is we would be shaken up a little bit." Harry said with a cheeky grin.

"A little warning might be nice next time, Master." Ahsoka groused. "I was freaking out and while this ship is fast, I thought we were done for."

Harry grinned. "You could ram this ship into an asteroid and the only thing that would do is irritate Dobby because you _might_ scratch the paint job."

Ahsoka's eyes narrowed, "Why do I get the feeling that you're speaking from experience?"

"Everyone has to have a hobby and I was curious." Harry replied with a shrug.

Aayla was still staring at the piece of pipe and then around at the ship as the possibilities occurred to her. "I never would have thought the Force could be used in such a manner." She looked at him. "Can you show us how to do that? The Republic Fleet would... manage to strike decisively against the Separatists with that sort of advantage, no matter what numerical advantage they have."

Harry's expression immediately closed off. The small relaxing moment that had occurred was washed away to be replaced by narrowed eyes and a cold look on his face. "I'm not showing you anything else without an oath like Ahsoka, or a contract."

Aayla was caught off guard by the sudden coldness, feeling like she had just lost all progress she might have made in the short time with Harry. Before she could say anything or ask any questions, Harry had turned away.

"Now, if you'll excuse me, I've got some more work to do. I'm sure you need to contact your Order to make your report." His voice was dry and unemotional as he walked away only to pause several strides away without looking back. "I would caution you to be careful what you say to them. Given the existence of this 'Dark Lord' that Ahsoka tells me you're all worried about, you have to assume anything you tell them, he will know within hours... if not minutes, assuming he isn't sitting in the room."

That statement hit Aayla like a punch to the gut. The very idea was horrifying to her. Even Ahsoka looked horrified by it too.

Harry seemed unbothered, not even turning to look at them as he finished and started walking away. "Tell them they can send a transport to pick you up at Kashyyyk in a few days." He called out over his shoulder as he disappeared toward the back of the ship, leaving Aayla and Ahsoka alone.

Ahsoka's eyes followed Harry as he left them alone in the cargo hold. She was tempted to follow him immediately but sensed that he needed some time alone. Her gaze went from him to Aayla who was still staring off in the direction that Harry had gone in. She looked at Aayla and realized that seeing the Jedi master so completely off balance was an interesting experience. Harry seemed to have that ability and seemed to revel in doing so. She shook her head slightly before turning away from Aayla to head up toward the cockpit.

Aayla's eyes followed Harry as well. She had no idea why he had turned cold so suddenly. The idea that he could literally make metals impervious... it could change the course of the war. The lives of the troopers he could save, the lives of the innocents caught in the crossfire. Even if they couldn't do it to a capital class starship, they could put it on the fighters, and the Jedi starfighters which would cut vastly down on the deaths of Jedi. She didn't understand why Harry would get upset about that.

She shook her head slightly and decided to go talk to Ahsoka to see if she could provide some more insight into Harry. She found Ahsoka back in the cockpit, sitting in the copilot's seat staring off into the stars as her eyes had a faraway look as she gazed out at the mottled blur of hyperspace as it passed outside the cockpit.

Aayla hesitated as she saw the bird once more perched on the shoulder of the pilot's seat. The bird seemed to have settled in and was sleeping, because she didn't open her eyes. Aayla finally swallowed, the bird making her unaccountably nervous as she moved around the chair and sat down in the pilot seat next to Ahsoka.

The normally talkative and verbose Ahsoka didn't seem to pay her any mind, though at the moment that suited Aayla just fine. She needed time to sort out the past few days in her own head.

She had been more than a little bit irritated, not by the assignment itself but by the events leading up to it that necessitated the assignment. Aayla had always liked Ahsoka Tano. She thought the girl had a ton of potential. The only worrying concern about Ahsoka was that the padawan had a tendency to form attachments… much like the concerns occasionally expressed by other Masters in whispers about Skywalker. While that tendency had benefited Ahsoka and others several times, and even Aayla once when the padawan refused to leave her behind, it was still against the code.

Still the fact of the matter was that she really did like Ahsoka. The young Togrutan reminded Aayla of herself in her desire to prove herself. That made what happened even more of a travesty. The padawan had been abandoned by the Council, albeit at the urging of the military establishment so that they could parade her through a big public trial, that was more about show than it was about justice.

Ahsoka had been systematically set up at every turn by a fellow Jedi to take the fall for the bombing, and it could have resulted in her death.

Aayla had reached out to the other Masters, speaking with her closest ally on the council, Master Kit Fisto. He had assured her that the Council was completely behind Ahsoka. They may have grown apart, as he deliberately distanced himself from her so that they didn't violate the Jedi code, but she should have known when the normally good natured Master was so grim and serious that there was something wrong. It was only the Council's reassurance that they were doing everything in their power to help Ahsoka, and that they would get to the bottom of it, that had stopped Aayla from abandoning her post and setting a course for Coruscant.

She had been irate to discover that Skywalker was the only one who had actually done anything and he had only managed that when they were on the verge of announcing their verdict. Aayla had intended to contact Ahsoka shortly afterward to check on the padawan and make sure she was doing all right.

However less than twenty-four hours after the revelation of Barriss Offee's betrayal, a council meeting had been convened and reached out to a great many Jedi who were off on missions, including herself. The topic being the padawan who refused re-entry to the Order, and this mysterious Force using bounty hunter who could somehow befuddle the senses of experienced Masters.

She had plenty of time to continue to ponder the man during her trip to Nar Shaddaa and as she waited outside of his ship's docking bay. He had been the sole focus of her meditations aboard her starfighter as she travelled to Nar Shaddaa. The holo projection of him verbally and legally tearing down Master Ki-Adi-Mundi and Master Tre'jin had honestly been extremely amusing to her.

He had been insulting and mocking throughout the entire exchange. Whoever this bounty hunter was he was confident and _amused _by the Jedi more than anything. It was almost a combination of him feeling they were no threat, and that he had originally no intention whatsoever of causing problems for them. He also gave the impression that if they had actually tried to impose their will, he had complete and utter confidence that the two Masters and their Clonetrooper support were no threat to him at all.

Of course the way he mind tricked the two masters was the piece the Council was most concerned about. Someone able to mind trick two masters and several clone troops all at once was definitely someone to be reckoned with. That more than anything had intrigued her.

Then she had met him, and it had been one set of shocks to her system after another. Putting aside his rude reception to her, she hadn't taken long to realize that he hadn't used a mind trick on the two Jedi masters. He had actually… _teleported. _She would have sworn by everything she knew, that it was impossible.

Of course impossible was a word that she seemed to use a lot over the next few hours.

Not only had he done it right in front of her eyes to himself, but he had done it to others as a whole group of slaves appeared in the docking bay.

Of course, not only did he seem capable of it, but so did his _mechanic._ Dobby was a species she had never encountered before, though she wondered if his species shared a common ancestor or genetic link to Yoda. Though she noted the little creature definitely seemed subservient to Harry, and happy to be so.

So Ahsoka had fallen in with a Force using bounty hunter who referred to the Force as magic, who had a mechanic who used the Force as well. This mechanic saw nothing wrong with stripping people completely naked as punishment. It was something he had obviously done before as Harry clearly had talked to him about it before.

That Harry, had given Dobby orders that included the caveat that there was to be no killing was both heartening and scary. It was heartening that the man had a moral code, and scary that he seemed to need to give that directive to the little creature. Especially when the tiny being admitted to looking for loopholes in the orders to still cause chaos amongst their enemies.

That didn't even begin to touch the ability to _shrink _entire spaceships. She had no idea how to characterize that and if she hadn't seen the display where he had expanded the hold of his ship she would have wondered if a prank was being played on her.

On the flip side, he had _clearly_ been angry when he showed up on the ship with the rescued slaves. That sort of anger she could see in his every movement. That sort of anger should radiate from a Force user, but… she couldn't feel _anything_ from him, at all. It was like he didn't exist in the Force.

Then… despite him bluntly and correctly identifying her as a spy, and that there existed the very real possibility that she would turn on him… he allowed her to come on the ship with them.

Now she was left with several conundrums.

Harry hardly seemed the most… stable of people. He all but admitted that he was reckless and emotional. He had no problem getting revenge as shown by going after the bounty hunter's ships. And no… she didn't even want to try and wrap her mind around the idea of shrinking them.

He was crass, and blunt in a way that was unsurprising from a bounty hunter or smuggler, but that crassness didn't stop him from helping a group of slaves.

She had to report into the Council but she didn't know what to say. She knew that the Force wasn't telling her to just stick around for the trip. And she certainly couldn't just ignore the deepest connection she had felt to the Force… ever. How to explain that to the Council? What would their reaction be?

She turned to look at Ahsoka, surprised that in her musing that the normally talkative girl hadn't spoken a single word. In fact she was still staring out into space without seeing anything.

"Ahsoka?" Aayla asked quietly somewhat disturbed by her friend's silence.

Ahsoka blinked several times before she seemed to snap awake and turned toward Aayla with a raised eyebrow. "Yes?"

"Are you okay? You… were out of it." Aayla asked cautiously.

Ahsoka shook her head slightly, "No, I was aware, I was just… working on something."

At Aayla's confused expression Ahsoka shook her head and shrugged, "Sorry, I can't talk about it."

Aayla sighed slightly, but she could hardly be upset, if what the girl had said about the contract was true. That didn't stop her from asking the followup question. "Why did you do it?"

At Ahsoka's puzzled look Aayla elaborated, "Why did you give him an oath that might see your connection to the Force stripped away from you?"

Ahsoka frowned and glanced out the cockpit at the streaks of stars before looking back to Aayla and searching her expression. Harry had said that the oath wouldn't let her accidentally say something that would violate it. So she wasn't worried about that. But she was still wary, she still didn't trust the Council, and Harry definitely didn't. Finally after several minutes of silent contemplation and consideration she relented a little bit.

"I had several reasons." She said, making sure to choose her words carefully, not wanting there to be any misunderstanding. "First, he stepped in to help me when he didn't have to. He didn't show any fear of half a dozen bounty hunters with guns pointed at him. He didn't show any fear of those Jedi Masters, even when they were overstepping their bounds. Bounds I am well aware of." Ahsoka said with a bit of sharpness and a hard, quick glance.

When Aayla just nodded in agreement, Ahsoka continued. "He knows uses of the Force… of Magic that I'm still struggling to comprehend."

"Magic?" Aayla said scoffing a little bit. "You know as well as I do that what he performed was anything but magic." Though her words rang a little bit hollow given the fact that there had been things that Aayla had no comprehension of how to deal with.

She noticed Ahsoka look at her, but her eyes drifted off, like what she had just stated made her think of something.

Ahsoka's mouth quirked a bit, then she turned back to Aayla "Does it make one bit of difference if I call it Magic, or if I call it the Force?" Before Aayla could respond, Ahsoka continued. "Someone, a long time ago, in some far far away place, named it, 'the Force'."

"In a hundred different places, where people also learned how to feel it, use it, understand it, manipulate it, they called it something else. Why do the Jedi," she then snorted, "as well as the Sith, hold the monopoly on what to call it?" Ahsoka bit her lip as she debated whether to continue talking.

Aayla frowned, recognizing that her friend was holding something back. "What is it?"

Ahsoka hesitated, clearly having an internal debate with herself before she looked around nervously. Her voice dropped a little bit as she stroked her fingers up and down one of her lekku. "Aayla, after he agreed that I could come with him, but… before he really taught me anything… that first night on the ship. I was sleeping, or at least trying to. I.. had a vision."

Aayla raised her brow at that, but otherwise kept her expression neutral.

Ahsoka nodded, "I have… only experienced a vision once before. But this… " she stopped, and swallowed deeply before she stared out at the mottled colors of hyperspace that flew by the ship once more. "I saw several things, all of them connected by a common thread."

Her voice dropped again and there was an element of… something in it, but Aayla couldn't quite identify the emotion.

"I saw what happened if I had chosen another bar to go to. Or decided to leave the one I was in a few minutes earlier. Or if I had left the ship when Harry said I could before we left Coruscant."

Aayla just listened to her friend letting her talk, it was clear whatever it was was emotional as the girl was struggling a bit to contain a well of emotions.

"In every case, no matter what decision I made afterwards…" Ahsoka swallowed thickly. "Every time I was captured by bounty hunters, and taken. Every time I attempted escape only to be shot and killed. My severed head turned in for a 'Or-Dead' bounty to someone I don't even know and couldn't see, but was certainly pleased I was dead."

Her eyes welled up with tears that she was only partially successful in blinking back. "No one would ever find out what happened to Ahsoka Tano. Not even SkyGuy ever turned up anything about me. I was merely lost, and forgotten before darkness consumed the vision."

Ahsoka's shoulders shook a little bit as she clearly struggled with the onslaught of emotions from the visions. Aayla was surprised by the display. While Ahsoka had never been the most stoic of individuals, and never seemed to have the peace attributed to so many Jedi, this was a much more powerful display of emotions than she had ever displayed before.

Neither Jedi recognized the slight shaking of items in the area, mostly because there were no loose items around, and the slight vibration of the entire cockpit was chalked up by both of them to simple movement of the ship, that happened in all vessels. Only Hedwig opened one eye and fixed it upon Ahsoka while she shook a little bit to steady herself.

Ahsoka took a steadying breath followed by another as she calmed herself. "But then I saw a vision of what did happen, and that Harry had remembered that he'd not been by that bar on Coruscant in a while and stopped in to check for mail. He did it on an impulse. He was delivering a package elsewhere and hadn't actually intended to swing by the bar until he was on his way back. It was merely a whim of his."

"A whim." Ahsoka laughed without any trace of humor. It was a sound that almost bordered upon despair instead. "He wanted to see those messages as much as he wanted to flirt with the Zeltron bartender just so he could have the childish excuse to make comments about her breasts in some long-standing game the two of them have. But...it was like… that decision changed something."

"My vision gave me a view of what joining him would entail." She shook her head slightly, "Overall it was just… just… feelings really. But it _felt_ right."

Ahsoka lifted her head to look at Aayla, clear excitement in her eyes, "I've never felt the Force's guidance so strongly as when I've been around him. It's like, it was foggy, muted, or clouded before I met him. All the exercises I struggled with at the Temple, or even with SkyGuy."

She shook her head slightly, before she found the words to convey her thoughts, "They feel so much easier when I'm near him. It's like, whatever is blocking me isn't able to block or affect what's around him."

Aayla frowned, "I experienced the same thing, here in the cockpit earlier, but only some of what I saw was very vivid."

Asoka raised an eyebrow, looking excited at the fact that she wasn't alone "So you had a Force vision?"

Aayla hesitated before she nodded slowly and after taking a breath she related portions of her vision. "It was like you said, the Force practically _shoving _me down this path. I saw… great darkness if I didn't chose to go with him. But…it wasn't just the trip to Kashyyyk... It was so much more than that. It was like the Force was telling me it's vitally important to stay with him."

She reflexively glanced back toward the entrance to the cockpit, "I just don't know how to convince him. He... certainly seems less than thrilled with me."

"Well that's true... but you did try and lie to him." Ahsoka shrugged a little bit.

"He also isn't the Order's biggest fan. Putting it mildly." Aayla observed, her eyes narrowed slightly.

"At the moment, I can't say that he's exactly wrong. I'm hardly pleased with them either." Ahsoka shrugged, her voice still carrying irritation.

"Look, Ahsoka. I'm sorry for what the Order did. I'm confident you would have been exonerated in the end. They would not have let you be..." Aayla said and trailed off seeing the expression on Ahsoka's face.

"That makes exactly one of us." Ahsoka shook her head and muttered sarcastically. She shook her head. "Look, you want my advice with Harry. Be honest. Don't try and manipulate him. Several of his comments have lead me to believe he would react… poorly to that."

"Harry may not seem all that serious, but he is sharp, and would likely recognize what you were doing before you had even finished speaking, and I doubt you would ever have a chance to speak with him again about it." Ahsoka frowned. "Someone obviously tried to control him somewhere in the past, and I think that's the big reason why he's so jaded about almost everything."

"Almost everything?" Aayla asked curiously, wondering what it might have been that he was not jaded about.

"Boobs. The man is obsessed with boobs." Ahsoka said dryly with an amused laugh. "Oh, and asses. He's definitely obsessed." She practically giggled at Aayla's expression and how it just occurred to her that some of Harry's quirks were going to drive Aayla crazy. "And quite vocal about it."

"Well," said Aayla carefully. "The vision I had didn't really touch upon his... perversions all that much."

Ahsoka gave her a strange look, one that Aayla prayed she wouldn't inquire deeply into. Harry had already told her she was a poor liar once today. She didn't need a padawan of all people reinforcing that. She nodded in the hopes of changing the topic, "The vision was just… so vivid and was so clear about what I should do."

Ahsoka narrowed her eyes, as much by what her friend was saying as to what she was avoiding. But she respected Aayla's privacy and didn't ask.

Aayla looked up at the controls in front of her and then sighed. She knew she should get this over with. "I guess I cannot avoid this any longer," she said to herself, but Ahsoka still heard her.

Aayla reached forward and opened a hypercom connection, inputting her codes for access to the Jedi Temple. Ahsoka made no move to stop her, nor any move to enter the visual projecting space of the transmission.

Aayla's connection was established surprisingly quickly and left her to wonder just what sort of communication equipment Harry had on this ship. The communication board lit up and showed a holographic representation, albeit a miniature one of the Jedi Council. Aayla was surprised that there was a full holo display in the cockpit but decided not to comment on it.

"Master Secura, relieved we are that you are okay. Received notification of destruction of your starfighter we did." Yoda's voice rang out almost immediately.

"I'm safe and unharmed." Aayla replied, reporting dutifully.

"Your communication is conveniently timed. We are meeting about several things. We can hear your report as well." Mace Windu added thoughtfully. "I assume you are safe for the time being if you've taken the time to establish a holocom rather than submit a report?"

Aayla nodded, well aware that there were always at least half a dozen pressing matters for the Jedi High Council's attention at any given time. She could only hope that her report was asked for first so she could sign off, rather the stick around on hold for the entirety of the council meeting

Unfortunately, she wasn't going to be first.

"First we have the push from the Separatists along the hyperspace routes near Sullust. They have taken advantage of our lack of reinforcements in that area far faster than expected and pushed our forces back, capturing all of the immediate outbound vectors along that trade route." Mace stated.

Obi Wan spoke up, "We just captured that trade route, losing quite a number of Clone troopers in order to do so. Why wasn't it reinforced?"

"We had to pull the reinforcements meant to secure the major ports along that route for the ground war on Duro. Grievous took advantage and took it back," reported Master Windu.

"React quickly they did to the vulnerability," mused Yoda. "Master Swan already has a detachment of clones in the area."

The aforementioned Master Swan spoke up. "We shall have to wait until we get more reinforcements to take back that route, the last time was costly and they are already re-entrenched, and we will need far more than I have with me."

"Once we can safely pull enough ships we will send them to support you, Master Swan." There was silence for a few moments before Yoda spoke up. "Turn our attention to the matter of Jedi Knight Barriss Offee. We must."

Aayla was very aware of the stiffening beside her of Ahsoka as she heard the name of the former friend who betrayed her. Ahsoka's expression was struggling to remain neutral, but was failing completely. Her fingers were stroking her lekku up and down in a sign of how nervous she was.

Obi Wan spoke up and his voice was characteristically calm, though there was an undercurrent of tension in his voice. "Admiral Tarkin has informed us that the military will not be prosecuting her for the Temple bombing and the surrounding circumstances.

Aayla felt her jaw drop, but Master Shaak Ti beat her to an outburst in the room. "Why? Especially after they were so insistent when the guilty party was thought to be Padawan Tano!"

Mace Windu's irritation came through his voice even over the holocom. "They believe that her speech in such a public arena, despite the circumstances, was clear proof that she wasn't entirely in control of herself."

"Tarkin has offered to turn over her fate to the Jedi Council." There was a pause before Windu continued, "Chancellor Palpatine has agreed with the admiral. Though I think it was at his urging that Tarkin agreed to drop all charges in the first place."

Plo Koon's voice spoke up. "The current administration's upper echelons don't want to risk another trial and another possible embarrassment. They are suffering backlash in the public for Ahsoka's trial, almost as badly as we are..."

Obi Wan's voice came across in a sigh, "Especially since she was tied so closely to Anakin, and he is by far the most popular figure in this war. Alienating him alienates most of the popular support for the war as well as for the Jedi. In fact, while there is a massive sense of disapproval and resentment for the Council and its actions, Anakin's popularity just grew even more."

There was silence in the room as they considered that fact. Anakin who had thus far been silent spoke up, "I didn't ask for that. I was just trying to save my padawan."

Aayla noticed a small smile on Ahsoka's face at Anakin's statement. She had to admit that while his behavior showed a worrying tendency toward attachment, he was also loyal and stood by those he believed in. It was hard to argue with the results.

Finally, it was Shaak Ti who spoke up, putting the conversation back on topic, "So the Jedi High Council has full authority to deal with Barriss Offee, without influence from the Chancellor's Office or the Senate?" asked Shaak Ti.

"My former padawan has been corrupted by the Dark Side, as much by the war as anything else." Master Luminara Unduli spoke up quickly, her headdress bobbing slightly. "I would volunteer to see if she can be brought back to the light."

Plo Kloon spoke up at this point, "I believe in the distant past, it was preferred to subject offenders such as this to either the severing of their link to the Force entirely, or to the Death of Personality, and then reprogramming, rather than attempt to guide an admitted unrepentant murderer such as Barriss Offee back into service."

Grumbles went through the Council at this, and it was Master Windu who spoke, "Yes it was, and its most spectacular failure was with Darth Revan."

Obi-Wan looked at Master Windu incredulously. "That's your reasoning? Citing an example from nearly four millennia ago? The Death of Personality has only been used a handful of times in history, and that failure was against an admittedly justified Dark Lord, not a once-promising Knight who has lost their way."

"Master Unduli, believe you do, that you can help your former padawan?" Yoda spoke up before the argument could really get started.

Master Unduli bowed her head slightly, her headdress making the movement far more noticeable than it might otherwise be. "I believe I can. She is a healer, not a warrior by nature. I think the constant presence of death and suffering in this war has taken its' toll on her psyche and on her soul. I believe she can be redeemed."

Yoda looked around the room at different Jedi Masters who shook their head or nodded. Lastly he looked to Obi-Wan who shook his head slightly. Then he looked to Mace Windu who just looked back impassively. The two seemed to communicate for several long moments.

Finally Yoda nodded, "Decided the Council has. Into your custody Barriss Offee will be placed. Unfit for Jedi duties she is until cleared by this council."

"What?! My padawan was at risk of being executed, and the person who put her in that position escapes punishment completely!?" Anakin verbally exploded.

That was enough for Ahsoka who pushed up from the chair violently, though without a word and stormed out of the cockpit. She was incensed and if she stayed there she was likely to start shouting at the Council. She went looking for Harry, needing to be anywhere but the cockpit.

Aayla was sorely tempted to follow her, but then her absence would be noticed and then no explanation of events would have been provided. It likely wouldn't have been appreciated by many of the Council if it became known that a non-Jedi had overheard an official Council discussion.

She heard the door to the cockpit seal shut upon Ahsoka's exit, and Aayla felt a wave of resentment go through her. Because her back was turned, she had no idea that Ahsoka was ten feet past the door when it slammed shut on its own behind her.

She honestly was nearly as angry about the Council's decision as Anakin visibly showed in the holo, even the small cockpit one. She however, wouldn't have called them out on the difference in how the Council was handling each person. She would have just called them all hypocrites behind their backs. Anakin just didn't have the strength or the political acumen to know better.

Or maybe he did…. he was the former apprentice of 'The Negotiator' after all. It was highly possible that Anakin simply no longer cared after events like these.

Barriss Offee was an admitted murderer of troops, support personnel, and Jedi who had died in the explosion, along with the guards that she had murdered outside of Ahsoka's cell. She had also set up another Jedi Knight to take the fall for it. She had not just exceeded authority and executed enemy combatants who had surrendered. She had murdered trusted allies, who should've considered themselves safe while stationed where they were.

Aayla wondered now if the Council's decision would backfire, to simply give her a slap on the wrist. Both internal and external to the Order. It could actually be an even bigger embarrassment than the handling of Ahsoka's trial. Anakin had calmed a little bit, but only after a private conversation that looked to be more remonstration by Obi-Wan and Mace Windu.

Yoda turned once more focusing on a new topic, "On the topic of Padawan Tano, update Master Secura has?"

She recognized it for what it was, the subject of Barriss Offee had been officially closed, or at least tabled. The inclination to bring up whether that truly was the final decision regarding Barriss Offee jumped into her mind, but she held her tongue, as she had mouthed off numerous times in the past to the Council, and doing so now wouldn't likely serve any good.

Anakin was literally in the room to defend his former Padawan, he didn't need help doing so. He had defied the entirety of the Council, the Chancellor's Office, and the upper military hierarchy in order to defend Ahsoka once. She didn't even need to ponder whether she should trust him to continue a vendetta against Barriss on his own.

Besides, she had a feeling she would need to mouth off a bit to the Council once they'd heard her report. "I have made contact with Ahsoka Tano, and the person accompanying her." Aayla said.

All of the masters straightened in their seats or sat forward slightly. "What have you discovered?" Mace Windu asked.

Aayla hesitated a moment. The warning from Harry was clearly ringing in her mind. She went over what she knew of every person in the room. She couldn't imagine any of them falling to the darkside though she had seen more than one of them face temptation. She definitely couldn't imagine any of them hiding the fact that they were the elusive Dark Lord they were so sure was lingering in the shadows, much less any of them working as a spy or traitor for the dark lord.

However, the more she thought about it the more it made sense that the Sith knew what was going on in the Council. With that in mind she decided to choose her words carefully.

"The first thing I have discovered is that there isn't a snowball's chance on Tatooine of Ahsoka Tano _ever _returning to the Jedi Order," she stated.

'_Or maybe not so carefully'_ she thought as she snorted to herself. But she couldn't stop herself from continuing. "Especially once she receives word that the Jedi Council, who sat idly by, tacitly giving their approval to the Chancellor's Office's decision to have her executed, if found guilty, will now do essentially nothing to a known and admitted _murderer _like Barriss Offee.."

She couldn't help it, she glared at the image of Luminara Unduli, and said, "I guess it pays for your Master to be a member of the High Council, as Anakin found out with his padawan's treatment."

She waved her hand dismissively in the air, "But that is neither here nor there."

She knew she had likely just irritated most of the members of the Council and audience except for Skywalker, Kenobi, and it sounded like Shaak Ti, but she had been rebelling against many of the Council's edicts and decisions for years, and seeing this latest hypocrisy had irritated her beyond belief.

Of course, Ahsoka's betrayed and stricken look as she had stormed out of the cockpit had _no_ effect whatsoever.

She had always been somewhat of a maverick as a Jedi, and had rubbed more than one Master the wrong way. What was another few here in a report as controversial as this?

The Master's all exchanged looks, though she saw the ghost of a smile cross Shaak Ti's face. The only one who seemed to truly ponder her words was Master Yoda, who closed his eyes in contemplation.

After letting her statements hang in the air for several seconds too long Aayla continued, "I arrived in system and docked, and almost immediately was blindsided by what should have been rather obvious to all here. Ahsoka Tano, because of her actions on _behalf_ of the Order, has made very powerful enemies throughout the galaxy during her extensive service during the Clone Wars."

"Now, without the protection of the Order, some of those enemies have either hired bounty hunters directly or… judging by the sheer number I encountered, likely put a price on her head so high that anyone in the galaxy with a blaster is attempting to take a shot." That caused some shocked breathing and muttering from several of the Masters, making it clear that something 'obvious' had completely not been taken into account.

"Needless to say this has complicated my mission." Aayla said dryly.

"I tracked the two to a bar. Apparently, over half of the patrons of the bar turned out to be Bounty Hunters looking to cash in Miss Tano's head. The Trandoshan hunter Bossk, who last I heard, Ahsoka had actually put behind bars, was one of those hunters present." Aayla said, one of the bounty hunters she had discovered was in the area, and while not the brightest, was tenacious and was still incredibly dangerous.

"I happened upon the scene minutes after a massive fight kicked off, and was immediately targeted by hunters who wanted the head of a Jedi, whether they were currently in the Order or not. I escaped, barely, and proceeded immediately back to the hidden berth where my starfighter was docked, as I'd deemed the current situation on Nar Shaddaa far too volatile for a Jedi's presence at the moment and was going to fall back to attempt to pick up the trail at a later point if I could."

Aayla took a breath and shook her head slightly, "I was less than a few hundred meters away, when I felt and then heard a massive explosion as bounty hunters destroyed my starfighter. I'm not sure if they thought I was there to retrieve Ahsoka, or simply a target of opportunity."

"After that, I knew I was on my own, because I doubted the Council would send anyone to investigate for days, if not weeks, so I pursued the only reliable exit strategy I could think of, I tracked down Ahsoka and her bounty hunter, to the landing bay her ship was in and practically begged for transport off world." Aayla finished and then looked around for reaction.

The Council members exchanged looks in the silence that filled the air.

"You are currently with Padawan Tano and this… Bounty hunter?" asked Obi Wan.

Aayla nodded, "They're not with me at the moment, obviously, but yes." She deliberately neglected to mention that Ahsoka had been there earlier. She said nothing more as the Council stared at her expectantly.

Eventually, one of them seemed to recognize she was not going to volunteer any information unless asked directly, "What can you tell us about the bounty hunter?" asked her former failed love interest, Master Kit Fisto

Anakin interrupted before she could answer, "Aayla, how's Ahsoka doing, is she okay?"

Aayla allowed a small smile on her face, it was clear that at least he had his priorities straight. "She's… alive. Somehow, despite having every mercenary from the Deep Core to the Outer Rim who can lift or point a gun, after her head."

Her tone turned slightly accusatory, as she turned her attention to the hologram of Kit Fisto, "As for 'the bounty hunter'… several of those mercenaries have had shots at Ahsoka, both on Coruscant and definitely on Nar Shaddaa. That 'bounty hunter' has kept her alive through all of it."

Aayla frowned a little bit wondering why she was getting quite so impassioned defending Harry. She shook her head slightly, "As for Ahsoka, aside from apparently becoming a most wanted bounty, she's dealing with the actions of this Council, and after she discovers today's proceedings I'm sure will have more to deal with."

"Oh, I did discover that the 'criminal' they were so focused upon taking in when they were harassed by two Masters of our order was the leader of a group of seven wannabe bounty hunters who had Ahsoka dead to rights in an Coruscant bar she had wandered into after quitting the Order." Aayla added as an afterthought.

"From an extremely vivid vision from the Force, Miss Tano has said that she would have died if it were not for Harry's intervention in that bar." Aayla sighed a little bit as she recalled her own vivid foretelling.

A number of the council members look up at that slip, "His name is Harry? This is confirmed?" asked Master Windu.

Aayla snorted visibly at the question and how it confirmed her thoughts. It seemed that the Masters couldn't care less about Ahsoka, as demonstrated how they grasped on to the first bit of information on Harry they heard. It was no wonder Ahsoka was still upset with the Council's actions.

"The name he seems to go by most is Harry…" Aayla confirmed shortly, unable to keep irritation out of her own voice.

She would have given away his last name, but something made her wonder if she should, so she stopped. And it wasn't like the Order didn't already have that information anyways. "What else can you tell us, Master Secura?"

And there was the question she was dreading.

What to volunteer to the group of people before her?

The group, whose opinion at one point, despite her own mischievousness, rebelliousness, and tendency to cause trouble, had meant more to her than anything else. That had changed though recently, especially with the treatment of Ahsoka. But Ahsoka's current treatment was merely just the most recent decision that Aayla could find not an ounce of logic in.

She had seen the torment her own Master was forced to undergo in the name of acquiring information on the Sith. Quinlan Vos had acted like he had fallen to the dark side, but she couldn't tell if it was an act anymore, and she highly doubted he could either. Her eyes flicked to his hologram briefly.

To the Council, he was a casualty of war if lost, and not the father-like figure who had saved her from a Wampa that had killed the Hutt that had just purchased a scared four year old Twi'lek slave.

"I can tell you that he is indeed a Force user." Aayla confirmed, speaking carefully.

"Is he a Sith?" asked Mace Windu.

Aayla shook her head negatively almost before she consciously processed the question. "No, I don't believe he's a Sith."

"How can you tell?" inquired Master Saesee Tiin a slight hint of scorn in his voice.

Aayla narrowed her eyes. The Iktotchi was notoriously stubborn and unforgiving when it came to anyone he viewed as following the Dark Side or as betrayal to the Order. He had been one of the chief accusers pushing to expel Ahsoka Tano, and her refusal to rejoin the Order definitely didn't sit well with him.

Aayla had long had an adversarial relationship with the horned Jedi Master. She felt he showed no compassion, and followed a very narrow interpretation of Order Doctrine. He was also absolutely unforgiving. To this day, he refused to call her former Master by his name, still always referring to him as 'the renegade' even after he was readmitted to the Council.

"Well, the hold full of rescued slaves that we're currently transporting to safety is hardly the actions of a Sith Lord or the follower of one. Slaves I might add that Harry saved entirely on his own and of his own volition." Aayla replied with a hint of snark.

"That proves nothing" scoffed Master Tiin.

"Yes, that's true. It's quite apparent evidence means nothing to this Council after all," Shaak Ti muttered, though everyone in the room heard it.

Irritated at the question, as much as who was asking it and the doubt that it directed at her own judgment. Though Shaak Ti's sarcastic comment nudged her own rebelliousness, she glibly replied, "Well, I did ask him for his Sith Membership card, and he didn't have one. Though that might've been because their application form didn't have enough questions on it to amuse him and interest him enough to fill it out completely to the end."

"Though I neglected to ask him if he was a Sith in secret! I'm sure he'd just blurt that out to me, so I guess it's still possible." Aayla said with a bright tone.

"The smart remarks are hardly called for Master Secura," Mace Windu said in a reproving voice.

"Oh, I apologize, _Master _Windu. But I believe my record speaks for itself, and if a member of this Council shows me and my abilities no respect when I report my findings, then I hardly feel it's necessary to stop myself from responding in kind." She snapped back once more before managing to stop herself with a deep breath.

That drew some indrawn breaths from all around the room, and Master Tiin swelled up slightly intending to shoot off a sharp reply but he was cut off by Master Windu. "Enough. We have enough things to deal with; we don't need to bicker at one another!"

His voice brooked no argument as his gaze observed the council chamber, almost daring someone to contradict him. Even Aayla who was one of several dialed in remotely felt the power of that gaze through the holocom connection. The only one who seemed immune or unaware was Master Yoda, whose eyes were closed and didn't even seem to be focused on the proceedings.

Once Mace was certain that there were unlikely to be further interruptions, his eyes focused on Aayla once more. "What can you tell us Master Secura? Where is he from? How was he trained?"

Aayla frowned as she considered the question, "He has not told me much at all. He doesn't trust me, and was aware of my mission the instant I approached him despite me not saying a word. And Ahsoka has been even more close mouthed. She refuses to talk about whatever he might or might not have shared with her."

"Very little surprise coming from someone who abandoned their responsibilities to the Order." muttered Master Tiin.

"He has caused a disturbance in the Force at least once more or at least a series of small ones, though only Master Yoda sensed it this time. It was not long ago, very briefly." Master Windu said cutting any reply Aayla would have made off and turning his head to stare with a fixed expression at Master Tiin, almost daring him to say anything more.

"I'm not sure what might have caused that Master Windu, though as I said bounty hunters were chasing Ahsoka, and he managed to capture several of them and free their slaves." Aayla replied diplomatically. While she wasn't being entirely forthright, it was true, she wasn't entirely sure which of Harry's actions had caused it. A niggling sense in the back of her head kept Harry's words ringing in her mind.

"Upon our exit from Nar Shaddaa, we were attacked by two ships. One of which was piloted by Cad Bane. And Ahsoka mentioned that Aurra Sing was supposedly in the area as well. Though I didn't see her. That is another bounty hunter who I swore should be in prison at the moment, especially since _I_ was the one who put her there, and Master Tholme nearly died aiding me while doing so." She said changing the topic slightly.

The council exchanged looks clearly unaware that particular bounty hunter and threat to them was out of prison.

"Cad Bane isn't likely to give up gunning for Ahsoka." Anakin observed quietly, a tone of frustration in his voice at the frequent escapes the Duros bounty hunter had managed in their many encounters.

"What can you tell us about his abilities?" Obi-Wan asked curiously focusing the conversation back at the topic at hand. His own irritation with Cad Bane no less than his former padawan's.

Aayla once more hesitated at the continually asked for information about Harry, and waited for several long seconds before she formulated her reply. "I can tell you that he is likely no threat to the Jedi Order, and he means us no harm, so long as the Jedi Order does not continue to attempt to make him an enemy. Especially since he has done nothing to warrant such treatment."

Seeing that her statement hadn't done much to placate any of the council she added, "I have not witnessed him even once use an ability I would claim was dark. What I've witnessed him do is only because he has allowed me to in the course of him liberating slaves."

Yoda's eyes, which had remained closed during the entire meeting up to this point snapped open and his eyes regarded Aayla sharply and he spoke before any of the other Jedi Council could formulate a response "Reluctant you are to speak clearly. Something troubles you deeply it does?

Aayla took a deep breath before she spoke slowly, "I've had a vision from the Force while in proximity to him, more powerful and vivid than any vision I've ever experienced in my life. It was not just a vague sense or a subtle nudge, it was… deep and vivid and so many things I'm still sorting through."

"Hmm." Yoda responded, rubbing one clawed talon over his chin slowly.

Aayla rubbed a hand over her face slowly, "Ahsoka Tano has also told me she experienced an incredibly disturbing vision the first night after her departure from Coruscant as well, and she admitted to me in the same conversation that up till that night, she had absolutely no talent towards Force Visions."

This got many of the Masters' attention, especially Skywalker, who appeared to be familiar with his Padawan's lack of skill with visions.

"I ask only to play devil's advocate, but could he be influencing these visions?" Obi-Wan asked.

Aayla nodded her head a little bit, "To be honest… it's possible, but… not in the way you're implying."

"Your statement, explain." Yoda said, his eyes focused on Aayla, seemingly to the exclusion of everything around him.

"It's like… I opened myself up to the Force for a moment and it was as if the shroud of the Dark Side was lifted. I could feel the Force in a way I never had before. There… was a sense of deep urgency I felt in the Force as it communicated visions to me.. What I saw was… disturbing." Aayla crossed her arms and shook her head slightly.

"No, disturbing isn't a proper word to describe what I saw. It was… it was absolutely horrific. It was like the Force was desperately telling even… pleading with me what path I should take that might avert tragedy." Aayla's voice shook slightly as she spoke.

"I've never received a vision like that, which so clearly told me what the consequences of my action or inaction would be. There was nothing vague, or cryptic about the vision. It was, do this to have a chance, or don't do this and all will fall to darkness and everyone you know will die, including yourself." Aayla's voice was tinged with emotion as she spoke, for just a moment she had forgotten she was speaking in front of the entire Council and not to just Yoda.

The other Jedi exchanged looks at her pronouncement.

"Concerns you, the path you saw does." Yoda mused, though his tone remained serious and grim.

Aayla hesitated, for a moment she thought he was talking about the future she described as horrific. She was preparing to snap at him, before realizing he was asking about the other path. She nodded a little bit, "The path it directed me to was to accompany Harry and Ahsoka Tano and receive different instruction in the Force."

"Different instruction in the Force? That is dangerous, we have seen what happens when a Master attempts to dabble in other teachings. The renegade, your own former Master no less, is testament to this. No one should do this, least of all you. You have already fallen once! You would choose to embrace the Dark Side following this bounty hunter. Though it hardly surprises me given your penchant toward attachments to others." Master Tiin sneered, his glance flicking toward Kit Fisto when he mentioned attachments.

Aayla swelled up, her patience finally fraying. It was an open secret that she and the Nautolan Jedi Master had been close and had feelings for each other but had distanced themselves from one another at Kit Fisto's discretion, not wanting to betray the Order. However they had done nothing wrong, and for him to bring it up was like a slap to the face.

Of course her mood was not helped by the remembrances of the last two parts of the vision she had received.

She was ready to retaliate and opened her mouth but Yoda's voice cracked like a whip freezing everyone present from talking, including several people that had started to speak. "Master Tiin, on this matter your counsel is recorded. No longer required is your presence."

That caused everyone in the room to blink. Rarely was someone on the Council dismissed from a meeting, it had only happened a handful of times that anyone could recall, and could only be done by the Grand Master of the Order. Yoda was exercising that authority now.

Master Tiin looked at Yoda in disbelief before his expression turned impassive and he nodded. He stood up, casting one final glare at Aayla's holo before he left the chambers.

There was silence in the room and on the holos after the doors closed following the Master's departure. Yoda tilted his head, "Conversation for another time, his behavior merits."

The Jedi Master sighed and seemed to stoop ever so slightly, a lot of the authority and power leaving his physical presence, though the impression he made was still fresh in everyone's minds. He turned back to look at Aayla's hologram, stroking his chin slowly before speaking, "Master Secura, discussing we were… something that intrigues me."

Before Aayla could respond Yoda had seemed to return his mind to the track of thinking he had been on before he had been interrupted, "Yes, Yes. Different instruction in the Force you believe you will pursue, if follow you this path?"

Aayla nodded, and her voice dropped a bit as she spoke. "I know what my vision showed me. If I don't follow this path it could lead us all to ruin."

She knew what she was saying and how it made her sound. She wasn't trying to grandstand or make herself seem vital or anything; she was merely relaying what the vision had shown her. She didn't know how much clearer she could be unless she described every facet of the vision.

However Master Yoda didn't seem focused on the possibility of what she was saying. But rather seemed to be honing in on what she wasn't saying or had hinted at inadvertently. His eyes didn't leave her hologram and she could almost feel the weight of his gaze through hyperspace. "This journey, alone you will not be."

It wasn't a question, and wasn't even an accusation, rather this seemed to be a pure statement of fact from the Jedi Grand Master.

"My vision told me that if I did this, I will not be the only one… though aside from Ahsoka Tano I don't know who else would join us." Aayla nodded in agreement, and had been tempted to bring up Dobby, but had no idea where to even start talking about him.

Yoda closed his eyes at these words, while others did not hesitate to comment upon her statement.

"Absurd! Master Tiin was right. We've seen how it can affect someone to willingly walk the dark paths in the Force! It is to court the fall itself!" Master Agen Kolar spoke up. The Iridonian Jedi Master spoke up with his standard bluntness, though it lacked the confrontational edge Master Tiin had taken.

"And yet this Council ordered my own Master to walk that very path in order to try and get closer to Count Dooku all in order to ascertain information about his Master." Aayla responded her tone firm but quiet.

"She is right, you cannot vilify something you authorized yourself, and at the same time discount the path placed before Aayla with the guidance of the Force and all that it entails," said Master Obi Wan, his voice equally quiet, though there was a deeply thoughtful tone to his words as well.

"Uh oh, that's Obi-Wan's '_I'm now thoroughly annoyed with these simpletons'_ voice." Anakin mumbled, though everyone heard him. "Next comes 'The Negotiator' tone."

Aayla barely managed to resist snorting in amusement.

"I am curious. In all the discussion thus far, where has anyone stated Aayla or Ahsoka intends to walk any specific path at all?" asked Master Windu aloud before waiting, though no one could respond to him.

Finally, Yoda spoke again after all others had finally gone quiet, "Labeled you did the other path as 'horrific'. Describe for me this path. Path that took you away from Ahsoka and her current companion."

Aayla closed her eyes at this request, involuntarily shuddering at the images she saw. "I saw the war continuing on as it has. The Jedi Order slowly losing more and more of our own as our numbers continually diminish as the conflict continues."

"Then, some cataclysmic loss… I.. don't even know how to describe it… The Temple aflame… bodies everywhere. Younglings huddled together and then butchered. I saw too many faces to even count, but I witnessed them all." She bowed her head her eyes closed tight as her memory pulled up the images, their emotional impact still strong. She was well aware she was letting her emotions show to the Council, but she couldn't just pretend like it hadn't had an impact.

"The deaths of practically every Jedi I know." Aayla took a ragged breath, "I saw my own death. I could feel only surprise, confusion, and a sense of absolute betrayal as I was killed and my eyes went dark and joined with the Force." Aayla shuddered a bit in remembrance of the vision.

"What is different about the other path you envisioned, the one that you believe you're being guided to but are concerned for?" asked Obi-Wan quietly, he wasn't the only one struck by the honesty and emotion in the twi'lek's voice.

Aayla took several deep breaths to steady herself before speaking in a calmer voice, "I saw the war continuing, but I was no longer part of it on a day to day basis. I saw Harry instructing Ahsoka Tano and myself in... something… I saw we were not alone, there were at least… three others, though their identities were shrouded."

"That was the only unclear part of the vision I had actually. The rest was particularly vivid, yet without context. I saw Ahsoka and I fighting a someone with a red dual-bladed lightsaber, and I do not believe it was a friendly spar. I saw… Harry standing alone, watching the largest droid army I've ever seen as it moved forward toward his position." Aayla related quietly, flashing from memory to memory.

Her tone softened further, "There was a sense of resignation in his emotions, though I do not know what for. And what's even odder is that I cannot sense his emotions at all."

She shook her head and pressed on, not wanting to linger there. "The main thing was… I saw a group of us. We were together, simply discussing something. Anakin was present as well. I have no idea who else was there, but something was being discussed that frustrated everyone."

"Then, I just know Harry asked a question. I have no idea what the question was, nor what the answer was. I know the answer surprised no one, because everyone knew it… But the answer had never been sought out in the context of that question and the overlying discussion, and the answer shook everyone present to the core." She frowned, a bit of frustration crossing her expression, she knew that particular vision was important but she wished she knew just a bit more to make all the pieces fit.

"And I know the result of that conversation tore down and changed everything. The future literally shifted, and the entire galaxy simply moved in response. I felt the literal ending of hundreds of paths in the Force, and nearly every one of them was one firmly entrenched in darkness." She closed her eyes as she described it to the best of her ability.

"The Force has told me that Harry is a catalyst for a change." She looked up and around daring anyone to doubt the sincerity in her words even over a holocom call.

"A change in what?" asked Master Plo Koon.

Aayla frowned, trying to put that into words. She stumbled over the words she needed to describe just how total the impact of his presence was, and ultimately could only think of one word to describe it. "Everything."

The Masters were all quiet at the conviction Aayla was presenting. None wanted to be the one to question a vision in the Force, like that, especially with their own views so veiled for so long.

Yoda was still silent, his eyes closed before he breathed deeply nearly a minute later, his eyes opening and looking around the room, authority once more filling his voice. "Matter closed this is. Trust Master Secura we must now."

Yoda's eyes focused once more on her. "If described you have the path, freedom from restrictions you have. Trust your instincts you must. The Force guides you, and its direction you must heed."

"Please do your best to keep us apprised of your location and inform us should you need assistance," said Master Windu after several seconds of silence as Yoda's words sank in. He was essentially assigning her the same thing they had with her former Master when he had attempted to infiltrate Count Dooku's acolytes. He was telling her to follow her instincts and the Force over the code.

"Be careful, Aayla." Quinlan Vos spoke up for the first time in the meeting, his eyes focused on her through the transmission.

Aayla nodded a little bit. A small smile crossed her face, briefly. Her former Master was one of few words and she had known him long enough to understand he communicated a lot more than what he said with a small amount of words. He may no longer be her Master, and she had earned her own title of Master, but he would always care for her. Now he was concerned for her, not just her safety but also her well being since he remembered being sent on a mission like this. However, he was also communicating that he trusted her to make her own decisions and her judgment.

"May the Force be with you, Master Secura." Obi Wan said quietly and earnestly as a farewell.

"I think, just maybe, it's finally with us all again." she replied softly before disconnecting the Holonet call.

She sank back in her chair and closed her eyes. She had made her decision to follow this path in the Force.. now the hard part.

Convincing Harry Potter to let her stay beyond their landing at Kashyyyk.

**ooOoOOoOoo**

**Author's note:**

**This chapter filled a couple of things. First, the first signs of the differences that Harry is starting to make in the canon universe. We'll explore quite a few visions over the next few chapters from different characters. That should be interesting!**

**Second, one thing that always bugged me is this perception in so many stories that technology is always better than magic. I mean I don't mind the concept so much as it seems to be in SO MANY fics. "Ohhh. Muggles have guns which can fire harder and much faster than spells or shields!" (We'll see this theme more later!)**

**For those of you who were worried I was just going to toss Aayla. BAH. She's too awesome of a character to do that. Doesn't mean Harry and her had to be buddy buddy right from the start.**

**Also, the Jedi Council. Those of you who think I'm bashing. I'm… really not. First, Harry doesn't like them so he's free to express that opinion. And he will continue to express that opinion. (Jedi are notoriously obstinate.) Second, they're still being manipulated by Palpatine to put them into situations like the one described. Thirdly, check the wiki. The people who acted like assholes in this chapter on the council, **_**are written pretty much *exactly* canon. I didn't make them up or twist their personalities.**_

**Also a grammar nazi thanks goes out to****stargatesg1fan1 for catching all the little grammar errors I seem to be so bad at missing! **

**Plums Notes:**

**Flashbacks / Visions are hard to do. Kat did a version, then I did a version, then stuff swapped around, then Kat did another version. Then the plot 7 chapters from now changed, and we had to redo stuff and add things and take things out.**

**Pre-planning like this can be stressful.**

**Here is also where we, as authors, ask you all for a teensy weensy bit of suspension of belief. Star Wars fans don't care about technical stuff. If this was a star TREK story, then yes, we would be falling over ourselves to explain everything in minute techno-babble detail. But this is Star Wars… which is, after all, the genre where people had a near riot over the fact that Lucas decided to explain away "The Force" as something as essentially getting infected by cosmically inclined bacteria.**

**How does this apply here? We will not be trying to compute realistic space-flight time between Nar Shaddaa and Kashyyyk, nor any other "trip" that occurs in this story. It will take "Time", and that's the biggest clarification you'll get from us. If every trip around the galaxy we do takes approximately 3-5 days, or heaven forbid we don't actually mention the time, then so be it.**

**The only other thing I can say is that this is the first of a few among the next 7 or 8 chapters that "got away" from us. This chapter, and the next, were originally 1 chapter which honestly got too big. Scene additions, expanded dialogue… all of it came together to make some pretty massive chapters, which I think both of us are trying to avoid after our other stories had some pretty huge chapters in their most recent updates.**

**Kat: Seriously this chapter is 20k words. We had to split them up. **

**ooOoOOoOoo**

**Alternative Author Titles**

"**Gryffindor's charge forward." Harry Potter**

"Is that why you named your ship?." -Ahsoka.

"Pretty much." Harry.

"**The Jedi Council screwed up again." - Anakin**

"Seems to be a theme. I just prefer other options." - Harry

"Like?" - Anakin

"**The Jedi Order. The bashing hasn't even started." Harry**

"**The Jedi Council- Dumbledore approves this message." Harry**

"**Wizards and Jedi, The place common sense goes to die." Harry**

"Or simply…" - Harry

"**Jedi Council: Morons." - Harry**

"Tell us how you really feel." - Aayla

"Eh, you'll get that soapbox in story soon enough. But two words sealed it for me. No sex." - Harry

"**The obligatory appearance of Bounty Hunters that don't stay dead/imprisoned/injured/captured"**

"Seriously… how many times can these guys escape prison?" asked Ahsoka

"And Seriously… how can you people not pay attention to who _runs_ the prisons they keep escaping from? It's like Azkaban all over again." - Harry

"Azkaban?" asked Aayla

"A prison where the wardens and guards were on the payroll of those who got thrown in prison to begin with… that couldn't _possibly_ be happening here, right?"- Harry Potter

"**Why is Aayla blushing?" - Ahsoka **

"No reason!" - Aayla

"**Proof that Harry and Aayla will get together." - Harry.**

"Visions are incomplete, you never know meaning or context. I say it simply proves that I will become heavily intoxicated at some point. Or suffer brain damage. Or both." - Aayla

"I know a couple of drinks that will do just that!" - Harry.

"I am unsurprised." - Ahsoka.

"And jealous." - Harry.

"Shut up." Ahsoka &amp; Aayla.

**ooOoOOoOoo**

**Finally, in another idea my muse has come to, I'm sort of looking someone who is an expert in the DC universe. Specifically Pre-New 52. (If you don't know what that is. then you aren't an expert :P) Other comic knowledge a bonus. If you're interested in helping with another fic, bouncing ideas, helping me mesh events into the story. Said person must also be willing to put up with my special brand of insanity, and know that Plums collaborates on pretty much everything I do. Please message me! **


	6. Provocation

**Chapter 6**

**Provocation**

After she pressed the button to disconnect herself from the holo conference feed, Aayla felt exhaustion begin to set in as the events from the past few days finally lent their weight down upon her. It had been five minutes since its conclusion, and the rutian Twi'lek still had not moved from the co-pilots seat she had used to communicate with the High Council.

She desperately wanted to doze off, or at least drown herself in the nothingness of meditation. Her incredibly long day, and one that was filled with both danger and shocks to her system had been draining on her. However, she had too much to do before she could allow herself to rest.

She had done what should've been the hardest part of her now self-imposed mission. She believed she had gotten the High Council to back off of their observation of Harry, as well as allow her to continue to follow in his…journey… path… wake… crime spree.

Truth be told, it wasn't actually easy to distinguish between them all at the moment.

But, only now, did she realize that the true hardest part lay before her. She had to convince Harry to let her stay with him and Ahsoka beyond their arrival upon the planet Kashyyyk. And she had not the slightest clue as to how to even begin that conversation.

He didn't trust her. That was a given. He presumed she was a spy, a potential assassin in the making, and/or a would-be kidnapper to Ahsoka Tano. Those are just the things he had said to her face, she wondered if there was more he hadn't said to her.

She knew she was probably premature in her conversation with the Council. She had spoken like her decision to go on this venture was a settled and foregone conclusion, as if she was sure she could follow through. Unfortunately, as of now, Aayla fully anticipated that Harry would kick her ass out the moment after they landed and tell her "Don't let the ramp hit you on its way up."

How in the name of the Whills could she convince him otherwise?

Suddenly, a stray thought hit her. Maybe it was best to start small.

"Minnie?" asked Aayla hesitantly as she keyed into the comm that she had seen was connected directly to the droid.

"Yes, Miss Secura?" responded the droid after a brief pause.

"The holocom conversation I just had, do you know if the ship kept a recording? If so, can you save it in case Harry would like to view it later?" Aayla asked. She had been amazed when she found out that Harry had his protocol droid able to flit between the odd looking mobile unit she saw, and the ship as a whole.

Harry had mentioned that it was merely for convenience sake, being able to have the droid complete various tasks that might require communication or possible real time information. The droid couldn't control any physical aspect of the ship.

"The ship automatically logs all holocom calls for a period of 72 hours, though they tend to be infrequent. So your previous holocom call was recorded and accessible for another 71 hours and 49 minutes, Miss Secura." The droid responded in her prim feminine tone.

Aayla nodded looking a bit relieved. She was glad the ship saved them because she hadn't thought about recording the session beforehand. "Do me a favor, can you save the file beyond that on a permanent basis until I ask you to delete it?"

There was a brief pause before Minnie responded forthrightly, "File saved, it will only be deleted if asked to do so by yourself, or Miss Tano or Mister Potter as they have more authority than you do."

She could prove how much she did or didn't tell the Council with that recording if necessary. Then she realized that she might need it to open the conversation and make her case in the first place.

She sighed a little bit before pushing herself to her feet. She noted that the avian animal, which had never left the cockpit was looking at her. Though Aayla couldn't really say the animal had an expression or even that the expression changed, she felt that the bird was staring at her with a bit less malevolence now. Of course that could just be her imagination overacting with a bit less guilt after deciding to save the holocom call.

She headed out of the cockpit and wandered into the depths of the ship. She moved quietly through the cargo hold. Every few meters she paused and looked around at the cots. The former slaves were all sleeping, most of them curled up in groups, but all of them sleeping quietly. Aayla could feel the sense of the Force active in the area, in a different way than it had been before but she couldn't see anything out of the ordinary, beyond the still expanded space. It was still something her mind still refused to deal with.

She moved quietly through the area, not wanting to wake any of them and headed toward the back, past the rooms that were currently being used as the brig, keeping an eye out for Harry.

She passed into the back toward the engine only to stop as she passed a compartment to the side. The door was open, and Aayla could see Harry leaning against a wall with his arms crossed.

Ahsoka was walking back and forth in the small space. Aayla could see her mouth moving and Ahsoka gesticulating wildly but couldn't hear anything. She also noticed the fact that the room was filled with shelves containing tools, datapads, and other items, all of which currently seemed to be shaking noticeably.

Aayla wondered if Harry had done the same thing to Ahsoka that he had done to her earlier. Where he had prevented her from making any sounds, another thing she was still trying to figure out. He hadn't just stopped her from speaking but had completely prevented her from making any sound, even clapping had produced nothing.

But, the rant Ahsoka seemed to be on didn't slow in the silence or indicate that she was unable to make her voice heard, so Aayla was sure something else was going on.

Harry for his part was leaning against a wall, arms crossed as he watched the girl move back and forth but didn't seem to be saying anything.

He didn't even look up to acknowledge Aayla as she appeared in the threshold of the room.

After a moment's hesitation Aayla took a breath and stepped into the room, she felt a subtle wave of the Force, and the moment she crossed the threshold there was an explosion of noise.

"-ey are just putting her in her former Master's custody… no trial, no punishment. Nothing. She nearly got me _killed!_" Ahsoka quite clearly was in mid rant and Aayla was startled enough to stop mid-step as the sound assaulted her ears. She also looked around and noticed that her senses weren't fooling her, things all around her were shaking though, for some reason, they weren't making any noise.

Ahsoka clearly didn't notice or care that things were shaking in the room or that Aayla was now present as she continued her rant, throwing her hands up in the air for emphasis. "She deliberately set me up to die! Some thanks I get for saving her life!"

Harry raised an eyebrow at that statement, seeming to ignore Aayla's presence as well, causing the Twi'lek Jedi to wonder if she was invisible for all the attention that was paid to her from the other two.

Ahsoka took a deep breath clearly prepared to continued her rant, but Harry held up a finger in the universal sign telling her to hold on a moment. "This girl… you saved her life?"

Ahsoka was startled at the sudden interruption of her rant, and was surprised to find herself breathing heavy. She hadn't realized quite how much she had lost control as she was venting. But Harry's interjection had focused her attention back on him and his question rather than the overwhelming sense of betrayal she was dealing with in the moment. "Yes, I saved her life."

Aayla looked around; all of the shaking shelves stopped as if on command, the instant that Harry had garnered her attention. Neither Harry nor Ahsoka so much as glanced at the shelves, leaving Aayla once more confused, a sensation she was becoming familiar with.

Harry's expression was focused on Ahsoka, his tone was calm and curious, "Tell me about the incident?"

Ahsoka tilted her head, it was phrased as a statement but it had enough of a questioning tone not to be an outright demand, but it was close. "Well… there was the time we needed to destroy a droid foundry together on Geonosis. We set off explosions while we were trapped in a tank together, and I was able to hotwire a power cell from in the tank so SkyGuy could get us out."

Harry's mouth twisted as he frowned. "Hmm. That's a bit debatable as to whether she owes you a life debt for that, since you were saving your own life too."

A puzzled expression crossed Ahsoka's face, wondering at Harry's wording. "Well, there was also the time when we had to deal with the brain worms. They were parasites that could dig into your mind and control you," She clarified seeing Harry's puzzled expression.

"Pleasant," Harry said with a grimace at the concept.

"Barriss got infected when she walked into a trap that infected troopers set. My old Master told me that the parasites were weak to cold temperatures so I ruptured the cooling system."

Ahsoka frowned as she recalled the incident. "Barriss attacked me, and even when the worm's hold weakened and she begged me to kill her I… couldn't."

Ahsoka hung her head, still conflicted about the choice she made, knowing that the parasite could have spread further because of her reluctance. "I refused and killed the worm as it came out of her mouth, leaving her alive."

"That's much more likely to have incurred a life debt," Harry said with a frown marring his features. "And, even after saving her life, she still would have stood by and let you die. And probably would have done it all again to some other padawan or Jedi had your former Master not confronted her, caught her red handed with the evidence and forced her to confess."

Ahsoka looked startled at that thought. She had never considered what Barriss would have done if she had gotten away with it. Her mind returned to the trial as she looked across the expanse of several meters separating the accused and the witness and saw… the look in Barriss Offee's eyes and the expression on her face.

It was an expression that made her friend nearly unrecognizable. Her expression was a combination of religious fervor, disgust, revulsion, and sadness. It left the impression of chaos and insanity in her former friend. Ahsoka wondered if the seeds of that insanity had always been there or if something happened to drive her to that state.

She nodded slowly as she was forced to concede that it was entirely likely that if Barriss had gotten away with it that the crazed Jedi would have done it to someone else. She sighed a little bit, slumping as bitterness once more filled her voice, "There doesn't even appear to be any consequences at all to her actions. The military doesn't want to go after her and the Jedi don't seem to want to punish her. They're just sweeping it under the rug."

Harry had a strange gleam in his eye, "After what happened at your trial they probably have no interest in getting pantsed again in front of the world. We'll look at the impacts and possible repercussions having a life debt has on a magic user together in a moment."

Harry turned to look at Aayla, "Since we have a little spy in our midst and what I was about to say would fall under 'teaching'. We wouldn't want to give her anything else to report back to her _masters_."

With his attention firmly focused upon her for the first time, Aayla cringed slightly at the taunting "little spy" comment. She outright blanched at the way he said 'masters'. He put so many negative connotations on it that she felt disgust.

After a moment she realized that she wouldn't be able to use the recording to strengthen her position. She would need it to get any sort of position to start. She straightened slightly and cut off whatever else he was about to say. "Minnie said the ship recorded the entire conversation I had with the Council. I think it would ultimately be better if you reviewed it yourself."

The only sign of surprise on Harry's face was a raised eyebrow. Otherwise he regarded her neutrally for several seconds, his eyes boring into hers. Aayla felt a shiver going up her spine as it felt like he was examining her very soul for the briefest of moments.

After a moment's pause he tilted his head slightly, deciding to indulge the Twi'lek and called out to the ship, "Minnie."

"Yes Mister Potter?" Came the response a few seconds later over speakers in the small room.

"Could you replay the audio for the last holonet call?" Harry inquired, his eyes flicking from Aayla to Ahsoka who slumped a little bit, her hands going to stroke her lekku as a look of resignation crossed her face.

"Of course Mister Potter." Minnie's voice floated over the loudspeaker.

There was a moment's pause and then the call that had so upset Ahsoka and irritated Aayla was replayed from start to finish.

Aayla watched both Harry and Ahsoka for reactions, though Ahsoka had already heard part of it. She still looked hurt as the replay of Barriss fate occurred. Though the hurt slowly passed as she listened with interest to the rest of the discussion she had missed when she had stormed out.

Aayla was surprised that Harry showed almost no reaction throughout the entire conversation. The only time he showed any sort of reaction was a reassuring look over to Ahsoka after the replay of Barriss fate. Otherwise he simply closed his eyes and listened. His face might have been carved from stone for as much reaction as he showed.

When it was over, Ahsoka was still fuming in the corner, though at least this time her anger was tempered by curiosity as she looked at Aayla. Harry's eyes were still closed and his look was still blank.

More than a minute went by with pure silence in the room. Aayla found herself wondering if he had actually fallen asleep. Though truthfully the closed eyes and the thoughtful repose seemed eerily reminiscent of Yoda. It was enough to cause her to glance at Ahsoka with a curious expression.

Ahsoka frowned and then snapped her fingers loudly, filling the silence of the room.

As if being summoned Harry's eyes snapped open and those distinctive eyes regarded her intensely. "Interesting."

She at first figured that it was about her vision, or her lack of information to the Council, but she was surprised when he finally spoke.

"Your Order's leadership is fracturing, there are clear sides forming," Harry said with a shake of his head.

Aayla shook her head and disagreed, "Not really. While I admit that meetings usually aren't... _that_ contentious, that was nothing out of the realm of normal. There are disagreements and discussions all the time."

"That may be what you think, but you're fooling yourself. Which isn't that surprising, the majority of them are obviously deluding themselves," Harry replied blandly, this time it didn't seem to have any insult in his tone, rather it seemed… tired and tinged with regret more than anything.

His voice dropped as he shook his head, "I've seen it before, different sides and viewpoints, with those on the extreme ends being the loudest. It generally creates a stalemate in which very little actual progress happens while day to day tasks are carried out. Meanwhile an older, respected and probably more powerful figure tries to hold things together so it doesn't all fall to pieces. All of this is going on while an enemy works its way in and exploits those small fractures that seem so small and petty to the group as a whole, but are important to the individual, in order to bring it all down."

Aayla and Ahsoka's eyes both went wide at that statement, exchanging a glance. It didn't take much of a stretch to view that as exactly what was happening within the council. They had heard conspiracy theories and suspicions before regarding events, but nothing that had been spoken so blatantly and factually. Harry didn't seem to notice or care about the effect those words had.

"It was interesting that there were two that struck me as genuinely displeased with Aayla, and two who seemed more than a little unhappy with the Order, one who I assume was Ahsoka's former Master?" He finished questioningly as he glanced toward Ahsoka and got a nod of agreement.

"The one with the speech impediment was the only one who seemed contemplative about the whole thing. Though he also seemed to be in charge. So…" Harry trailed off with a shrug.

Ahsoka snorted and tried to cover up her laugh with a cough, while Aayla made what was curiously like a choking sound, "That's Yoda, the Grand Master of the Jedi Order."

"Whoever," Harry shrugged apathetically before he regarded Aayla once more. He raised an eyebrow at her expectantly.

A puzzled look crossed Aayla's face, "What?"

Harry tilted his head, "Was that all?"

Aayla's face fell, she had hoped that showing Harry the recording would not only get him to trust her but make her request blatantly obvious. She had pretty much spelled it out in her conversation with the Council, and had hoped he was already considering it. The Force had told her it was absolutely paramount that she join him. Those deaths she viewed, and felt weighed heavily on her. It felt like they were trying to suffocate her. But she pushed it aside for the moment.

Aayla chewed on her lip a moment before taking the plunge. "I…. want to stay with you, not just to Kashyyyk but beyond that… wherever you head next."

"Why?" Harry's implacable reply came back sounding not only entirely unsympathetic but completely apathetic.

Aayla floundered slightly. Though she didn't detect hostility in his tone, she also couldn't detect curiosity. Harry sounded completely disinterested in the idea. She opened her mouth several times before gesturing toward one of the speakers that had just played the recording for her. "You just heard!"

"Which part?" Harry shook his head, "I heard a bunch of people, most of whom had a skewed sense of priorities. All of whom were bickering, intolerant and inflexible with precious little common sense displayed among them."

Aayla really couldn't argue with that part.

"I heard almost suicidal levels of 'forgiveness' and second chances given to someone who tried to frame a fellow Jedi for her own crimes." There was particular disdain in Harry's voice as he said that.

Aayla sighed a little bit, "I don't disagree, though I would say that everyone makes mistakes and deserves a second chance."

"Where was that second chance when Ahsoka was accused?" Harry retorted. "You can't even say you don't agree, you yourself questioned the motives of the Order."

Ahsoka had an odd expression on her face. It was a combination of sadness for what happened, agreement with Harry for his stance, and an odd sort of pleasure that someone who she hadn't known very long so clearly had her back.

"What would you have them do?" Aayla countered. "Would you have them simply throw her away?"

"Isn't that what they did to me?" Ahsoka interjected, her blue eyes flashing.

Aayla shook her head, arguing with Harry in the hope of him seeing her point of view was going to be hard. With Ahsoka, who she thought might be an erstwhile ally against her as well, her job just got exponentially harder. "They didn't have a choice with you. The Chancellor and the Senate took a stand that they needed you, as their main suspect, to face a trial."

"So the Jedi Order just _expelled_ me so that I could be put on trial?!" Ahsoka shot back, her tone heated and defiant.

"They had no choice!" Aayla responded defensively, "The Senate and Military can't put a member of the Jedi Order on trial."

"So the Jedi, with the exception of my Master, the Order just abandoned me!" Ahsoka spat.

"What were they supposed to do?" Aayla demanded. "They were trapped between transparisteel and a corusca gem."

"How so?" Harry asked smoothly, genuine curiosity filling his tone.

"They had to turn Ahsoka over for trial," Aayla said, slumping slightly as defeat entered her tone. She was having to defend actions she herself believed were almost indefensible. "The only other option was to defy the Chancellor and the Senate."

"So why didn't they?" Harry asked. "From my understanding your Senate doesn't control the Order."

"That's true." The blue Twi'lek replied, before her shoulders slumped completely, "But this war... it's changing things. There is a large sentiment out there that the Jedi are part of the reason it's gone on so long. From our relative inaction at the start, to the ongoing confrontations since then. Count Dooku as a leader of the Separatists as a former Jedi. The Jedi are also blamed for the Sith that we have made no secret of hunting for."

"The general public doesn't differentiate," Ahsoka added, surprising Aayla as she at least supported her in part. "They don't see that there are differences between the Sith and the Jedi."

"Of course not," Harry agreed easily. "To a casual observer it seems to be two sides of the same coin, that can only sometimes be told apart by the color of their swords. Otherwise to Joe Public, they're the same thing, weird powers, and a lot of rumor and speculation surrounding the mysticism. So they don't see the difference."

Aayla nodded, pleased that at least some of what she said wouldn't require convincing Harry. "The Council is in a very precarious position with public opinion. Truthfully it's only the public profile of some of the heroes, such as Obi-Wan Kenobi, Anakin Skywalker and yes, before this trial and tragedy Ahsoka was definitely a high profile war hero as well. That has kept the public mostly quiet. That could easily change." She trailed off as Harry's eyes had narrowed while she spoke.

He turned to look at Ahsoka for several long seconds. His expression unreadable before it turned speculative, "Clever bastard..." he murmured.

Ahsoka looked confused, though the focus of his expression wasn't on her, rather he seemed to be figuring something out. "What? Who is clever?"

"I'm not sure," Harry admitted. "But whoever it is seems like they might be able to school my old headmaster at the whole manipulation thing."

"Huh?" Aayla said eloquently at the sudden change in topics, her equilibrium once more thrown off.

"Well, if I were paranoid, or a betting man, I would say that was perfectly set up," Harry said. "The Jedi Order, either turns Ahsoka over, or they face a public backlash for protecting one of their own."

Aayla nodded, "That's what I just said. It falls in with our suspicions that the Dark Lord we're searching for is close to the Senate and has a number of them under his control."

"But you didn't go deep enough," Harry shook his head in reply, and chuckled. "I didn't even think about it. Whoever may be doing this was probably playing a longer game. So they banked on the Order doing what was easy instead of what was right. But even if they didn't, they got what they wanted. Ahsoka put on trial. The public loves their heroes. They love even more to see those heroes torn down."

"That's a rather cynical viewpoint," Aayla interjected

"Perhaps, but it's true. Eventually the public comes to resent heroes. Because they don't see the struggle, the pain, or the tragedy heroes have to deal with. Usually that isn't shown. Instead, sooner or later they are a constant reminder to public of someone they could have been, or someone who is better than them," Harry replied, his voice even and clinical.

"Of course, there's one thing the public loves even more than seeing a hero brought down, is to see for themselves a hero overcome the odds stacked against them and triumph. Even if the public is part of those odds against them," Harry said and twitched slightly in annoyance.

A trace of grudging admiration entered his voice. "Assuming it wasn't just one giant coincidence, whoever set that up couldn't lose. The Chancellor and Senate end up with eggs on their face. The Jedi end up with eggs on their face and the only person or persons who come out of this looking good are Anakin and Ahsoka."

"Who in the galaxy could manipulate things like that?" Ahsoka asked.

"I don't know," Harry replied with a shrug after a thoughtful pause.

Aayla's voice was quiet, though there was no mistaking the fact that she was disturbed. "If you are right, it's just more proof the Jedi have to find the Dark Lord."

"If the Jedi are smart they are looking hard at all the connections to any of the main players in that whole drama, Ahsoka, her master, the masters who pushed for expulsion, the senate members that pushed for trial, the military officers who did the same. While none of the may be this so called Dark Lord, some of them are certainly puppets. The question becomes where do the strings lay and who is pulling them?"

"If they are looking close, then you shouldn't be surprised that they are investigating you," Aayla replied.

"I'm not, I told Ahsoka you'd be coming, but I figured it was more about pride, given the fact that I publicly spanked those two Jedi, than it was part of a grander scheme." Harry shook his head, "We've gone way off track. Despite all of that, it doesn't excuse screwing over Ahsoka and then essentially pardoning the real guilty party."

"As I said, the Council was merciful and gave her a second chance under strict observation by her former Master," Aayla replied.

"Mercy to the guilty can be treason to the innocent," Harry said with finality as he gestured at Ahsoka. "The traitor had her second chance and third and fourth as Ahsoka was set up more and more for murder."

Aayla nodded a little bit, "You heard me just say that I don't entirely disagree with you."

Harry nodded in agreement and Aayla immediately jumped on that. "Then you also heard why I want to go with you!

"No, I didn't," Harry replied, his voice still even.

Aayla looked confused, she wondered if he had been listening to the same holo recording she had, "But… my vision, and everything."

Harry shook his head and clarified, "I heard why you _**think**_ you _**have **_to go with me. That's different from _**wanting**_ to go with me."

Aayla looked taken aback before she mustered a reply in nearly the same tone, "I _want_ you to teach me like you are Ahsoka. I'm willing to take the same oath that you made her give."

Harry blinked in surprise before leaning back and rubbing a hand over his face. He had to remind himself that from everything he learned, the Jedi Order knew nothing of magically binding contracts or oaths. "You don't know what you're asking."

Aayla opened her mouth to reply before Harry cut her off. "No. You really don't."

Harry gestured at Ahsoka, who straightened up slightly at the sudden attention put on her. "She and I have spent the last several days talking about the training she received from your… Religion? Organization?... Cult? I'm not really sure what to call it."

"While there is some crossover at the basic level, as far as use goes. Things like levitation, and what you call 'Mind Tricks'; though your version is fairly limited. The rest is entirely different than what you've experienced."

"How so?" Aayla found herself asking, this was the first time Harry had really talked about his abilities, so she was eager to learn anything she could.

After a few moments pause, Harry began to slowly speak, though he had no intention of actually describing his training in detail, "The Jedi seemed to have focused almost purely on using what you call 'the Force' for physical means. Improving speed, hand eye coordination, strength. Things which then can be augmented further for short periods of time if you focus on channeling it. You extend that into telekinesis on occasion, and those two areas seem to be the primary focus of your cult."

"To a slightly lesser extent that comes naturally to my people. Heightened reflexes and such. Generally it's only the athletes or those who immerse themselves in magic and really make it go any farther than that," Harry said, pulling himself out of his musing.

"Truth be told after talking to Ahsoka, I'm not sure that you'd be capable of learning from me," Harry said with a lift of his shoulders in a not-quite-apology.

Aayla frowned and shot Ahsoka a betrayed look. She had been up against that sort of sentiment her entire life. She couldn't help wondering if the girl had lumped her in with the rest of the Council, even after hearing the full conversation. However, the expression on Ahsoka's face showed that she was every bit as confused by that statement as Aayla was.

"I didn't say Aayla couldn't learn from you!" Ahsoka protested.

"You didn't mention her specifically. But it was the other things you told me," Harry explained patiently. When Ahsoka still looked confused, Harry sighed a little bit. "Who would you say are the most powerful Jedi in the Jedi Order?"

Ahsoka opened her mouth to reply, but Harry shook his head quickly. "We've already talked about this Ahsoka. I want to hear Blue's opinion."

Ahsoka closed her mouth and nodded, a little bit, turning her attention to Aayla who for her part looked confused at this non-sequitur "Um. There are several that are powerful, but in terms of ability with the Force, it would be Master Yoda. He is arguably the most powerful in the Order, and he has nearly a millennium of experience."

Harry raised an eyebrow briefly at the mention of his age before shaking his head, "And after him, as he's clearly the older powerful one trying to hold it all together?"

"In terms of skill? Probably Master Windu or Master Kenobi… Though I would say Ahsoka's former Master… Anakin Skywalker, isn't far behind them in skill, and he has the potential to be much more powerful," Aayla frowned, because she didn't understand where this line of questioning was going.

Harry nodded, looking unsurprised. "That's about what Ahsoka mentioned the other day on our trip to Nar Shaddaa. Glad to see there is a bit of consensus. Now what is the general opinion of Anakin Skywalker?"

"It depends on who you ask. The public loves him. He is a war hero whose accolades are earned genuinely. The troops never seem to fail to rally around him," Aayla answered in a puzzled tone, completely confused now.

Harry sighed a little bit and shook his head. "No, I'm asking what the general opinion of his peers is. How do those in the Order feel about him?"

Aayla glanced over at Ahsoka, knowing how fiercely protective she was of her former Master. "He… is very skilled, especially for one so young. He can be impetuous and reckless and emotional and has a difficult time not forming attachments. But there are times it seems like he is in tune with the Force like no other, and his list of accomplishments speak for themselves. They don't call him the "Hero-Without-Fear" for nothing."

"The media and the public are always issuing hyphenated titles… and stupid ones to boot. It is good to see some things never change," he mumbled, but both observers heard him. He shook his head and focused once more on Aayla. "And what was the opinion of Ahsoka Tano?"

Ahsoka looked up at that question, curiosity coming to her face.

Aayla glanced her way before looking back at Harry, "I don't understand… why do you ask?"

"Humor me," Harry replied without an ounce of humor in his voice.

"Um… similar, I would say. She was considered to have incredible potential as a padawan. She has accomplished an amazing amount for someone of her rank and age. She's not quite as powerful as Skywalker, but then again, his power supposedly outstrips even Yoda's. She's very skilled none the less," Aayla said, choosing her words carefully.

Aayla saw the look of pride that crossed Ahsoka's face and winced a little bit at the effect her follow up was likely to have. "But that goes both ways, she's also described as being brash and reckless like her Master. A recklessness that has cost people their lives in the past."

Ahsoka winced and looked down, well aware that her own arrogance had cost clone troopers their lives before. It was something that still weighed on her mind and plagued her with guilt to this day.

Harry turned his attention from Aayla and smiled sadly at Ahsoka. "Trust me, you aren't the only one to make that mistake. I've been there. War often puts people into positions of leadership they aren't quite ready to handle. You can only learn from it and move on. Become the leader you need to be by learning the practical lessons as they come."

Ahsoka's brow furrowed a little bit, looking up at him. She was surprised when she didn't see recrimination or lecturing there, simply understanding of a shared pain. It was one thing she liked about Harry. He didn't ever try and hide or pretend when he spoke with her about something serious.

Harry turned back to Aayla, and she was surprised that she didn't see any recrimination in his expression either. He hadn't been upset with her for making an observation or a statement of fact. "Is that all they think?"

Aayla glanced at Ahsoka, knowing they had this discussion in the past. "She is generally regarded as too passionate and emotional, and has a problem with the attachments she forms."

"Again, just like her Master," she finished with.

"And that right there is the problem. You list emotions and attachments as insults," Harry replied immediately, disgust in his tone.

"Emotions and attachments can both lead to the Dark Side," Aayla's response was almost reflexive, as it was one of the central mantras of the Jedi Order.

Harry shook his head, "Can lead… key words. If you go your whole life, never experiencing the ups and downs of life. If you never experience heart-break, loss of a relative, jealousy over a childhood friend's cool toy you wish you had, then how will you react as an adult who never had to deal with those things when the situation is _far _more dire? How will you react to the death of someone you know?"

"Deaths are not something to be mourned. It simply means a person is free to become one with the Force," Aayla replied, once more one of the mantras of the Order coming to the fore.

"Wow, remind me to never rely on you to rescue anyone for me. If you don't care if they live or die, you're useless," Harry stated plainly as he shook his head in slight disbelief. "No emotions mean you're no longer living. You're a Droid. I might as well program one of them to fulfill your functions."

"The Jedi Order isn't about denying emotions exist, it's about not letting them rule you," Aayla responded, this wasn't the first time she'd had this argument. "Droids can't feel the living Force."

"The Order has no concept of living. They've cut themselves off from living _life_," Harry replied shortly. "You Jedi shut yourselves down to avoid putting yourselves in all situations that might cause a negative emotional response. Things normal people, at least emotionally healthy ones, learn to deal with as children and teenagers."

"Your Order's religion has decided to avoid the whole situation entirely, and stick everyone in some tight rope act from a circus. Of course toss in 'Force powers' and that balancing act is suddenly done 100 meters in the air with thermal detonators. While you all hope you all never drop one, or Merlin forbid, fall down."

"I understand this is just from the accounts I've heard from Ahsoka, though your opinion seems to dovetail nicely. Anakin Skywalker and Ahsoka, are just two examples. 'Passionate' as they may be, by your own admittance are powerful and incredibly accomplished in your war. Though of course when Ahsoka was telling me things, she tried her hardest to downplay her part in things," Harry stated wryly with a shake of his head and glanced at her, grinning a bit when she blushed and looked down.

"They've done this without cutting themselves off entirely from living. Attachments with one another... to others. Passion. Compassion. Those things so looked down on, have been a strength for them at times," Harry said while gesturing at Ahsoka.

"Yes but those very things could lead them down the Dark Side. They become liabilities in battle and can impair their judgment," Aayla replied, a nervousness to her tone now as Harry openly espoused an idea much like Sith propaganda.

"Your life doesn't need to be 100% ruled by the doctrines of your Order. There is a reason during times of war that soldiers have leave and should have strict time limits on deployment. Otherwise they burn out or develop a whole host of issues along the lines of post traumatic stress disorder or worse," Harry stated with a sigh, "When you're not in battle, there's no need to avoid attachments. Yet your Order looks down on them for this."

"But… they're risking falling to the Dark Side. Attachment can skew judgment and cause a Jedi to value one person or thing above others. They lose sight of the Greater Good," Aayla said and then blinked. Harry's eyes had darkened and his entire expression hardened.

"'The Greater Good.'" Harry spat out the phrase, and the absolute loathing he colored the phrase was far more visible than at any other point in the discussion. "More lives have been sacrificed and lost to that phrase than any other in history. Mostly because people who didn't understand the true meaning behind the phrase used it to justify their actions."

"It is the truth!" Aayla argued, her tone becoming more heated as Harry's philosophy seemed to more and more mirror what she had seen of the Sith. "They form attachments and then they start making decisions that sacrifice others in order to protect whatever is most important to them."

"It just gets worse from there. Their thinking gets skewed. They start to focus on other things. They become overwhelmed with fear of losing those that are important, or vengeance when those that are important to them are inevitably lost. Having and being ruled by those emotions can easily make them vulnerable to the Dark Side," Aayla said emphatically.

Harry snorted, "So can having the compassion of a rock. Without compassion there is no morality. By your logic a Jedi should never smile, or laugh or frown or be irritated. By the very nature of the example you used, your Order makes you suppress your emotions so that if you get sent on suicide missions, your compatriots should not risk saving you or risk being labeled as evil for it."

"That's not true. It's just allowing the emotions that cause those things to rule us that is forbidden," Aayla replied shaking her head, "And what is your alternative? Just indulging in your emotions?"

"Well, admitting that one has them is a good first step," Harry replied.

"And when those emotions get twisted? Or become overwhelming?" Aayla demanded and pointed at Ahsoka. "She was just here ranting, upset and angry and all your shelves were shaking in direct response to her _emotions._"

Ahsoka looked surprised at that but Harry seemed utterly unconcerned. "A person should deal with emotions as they come. They shouldn't wait until they're overwhelming them to do something about what's bothering them."

"And when they can't wait? Then what? They embrace the easy path, and fall to the Dark Side. They have abilities and skills that are so tempting, giving into your emotions opens those possibilities up. Trust me. I know. Those abilities and powers and thoughts that are selfish and seem like they would be rewarding… they are so tempting," Aayla said heatedly.

Harry nodded, "That they are. But let me ask you both something. If you're a soldier, do you drop everything at the first sign of trouble on a mission and allow your emotions to overwhelm you?"

Both Ahsoka and Aayla shook their heads in the negative, and Harry continued, "Then why would a trained soldier, allow themselves to put their emotions first in a high-pressure situation when lives are at stake? If they do, then it's because someone else screwed the mission up, or you didn't give that soldier all the training they needed to succeed."

"You don't like that Ahsoka was in here ranting. What should she have done then? Bottled it up? Said nothing about how life has dumped a load of bantha shit on her?" Harry challenged her, his voice firm without raising it. "No, she came here, found an ear that would listen, and aired her grievances. I can't do anything about those problems, and she knows that. But it's the fact she talked those emotions through which allows her to overcome them."

"But she-" Aayla began, but Harry cut her off.

"Yes yes, she threw some crap around," he waved his hands around unconcernedly. "Uncontrolled or accidental magic we call it. Our children have these bouts when they experience high emotions. It's normal. That pain and anger she felt has to go somewhere, right? So what if she banged some shit around. If she internalized all that, it just makes her wallow in it, and _that_ is what will slowly poison a person's mind."

He waved unconcernedly over at a few boxes that had been turned over and dented, and they rose up and repaired back to their original shape before sliding onto shelves.

He turned to Ahsoka, "Feel better since you came in here and broke some shit?"

Ahsoka hesitated and then nodded, "I feel like a bit of a weight lifted. It's still there, but it isn't the forefront of everything."

Harry nodded, "And it won't go away until you finish working through it."

He turned to Aayla, who had been distracted slightly by Harry's casual display of magic but who refocused on Harry when his attention was clearly on her. "Sounds like _you _have some unfinished ranting of your own to do, if one goes by how _passionate_ you are about this argument. I'm certainly not saying rant at me, but you need to find someone to do it with, or you'll face the same problems."

Aayla's face hardened at the words, which obviously touched upon something deep-seated and personal for her, so the subject was dropped. There was a pause before Harry replied quietly, his voice firm but soft. "Someone once told me that it is our choices that show what we truly are, far more than our abilities."

"Now I may have mixed feelings about the old man who told me that. As a matter of fact for the longest time I despised him, and thought he was a Dark Lord himself," Harry said, an unamused smile crossing his face. "He made so many choices around my life that were 'for the Greater Good,' which essentially was code for '_everyone's good but Harry's_'."

The bitterness in Harry's smile faded a little bit. "Over time I learned that, like so many things in life, it wasn't black and white. He wasn't as good as he fancied himself or as dark as I imagined. Like the majority of people who aren't totally evil assholes or saints, he existed in shades of grey, dealing with events as best he could or as he thought best, usually in the most secretive ruthless manner needed to ensure his goals. Perhaps he acted in darker shades of gray, but they were gray none the less."

Harry shook his head, "However I may feel about the man, his words about choices have more than a little bit of truth to them."

When he saw Aayla's doubtful look, Harry gestured toward the hold. "I have a bunch of scum-bag bounty hunters and slavers in there. I _could_ just go and execute them all. I don't even have to use magic, or fire a blaster. I just press a button, enter an authorization code, and the ship will space them."

"I don't even need any special abilities for that. I could also just take a blaster and start firing, or simply stop the life support systems from functioning in there and let them suffocate," Harry listed off dispassionately "I _choose_ not to. It doesn't matter what emotion I feel. It doesn't matter what abilities I may or may not have. I make that choice and my choice defines me."

"I… understand your point to an extent. I still think allowing oneself to indulge in those emotions are dangerous. But... I'm not sure what all of that has to do with not being able to teach me," Aayla said, trying to bring it back to the original topic.

"And that is why I won't teach you," Harry said with a slight shake of his head. "I believe you will fail."

That left Aayla speechless, feeling like she'd been slapped. Worse was the look that was on Harry's face. It was a look that was filled with a combination of pity and a touch of scorn.

He shook his head slightly and then nodded slightly at Ahsoka. "We'll continue lessons in a bit, I'm going to go check on our guests." Then he moved to head out of the room, ignoring Aayla completely.

Aayla felt a lurch inside her, and it wasn't just her stomachs that did so. This one wasn't purely physical, it had a tinge of the Force behind it as well.

She knew without a doubt that if he left the room, the decision would be final. The vision that filled her with horror would come about, and there is nothing she'd be able to do to stop it. Aayla felt her temper flare as he moved to brush past her as if she were inconsequential, not even a nuisance.

She reacted and stepped in front of him, putting herself directly between him and the exit. "No! That's not acceptable. I will not simply give up. I won't let you brush me off like this. I _can't _let you!" she stated and almost snarled simultaneously.

She found herself looking up into stormy green eyes. He had nearly a head of height on her and that fact was driven home by being so close to him. She hadn't been in such close proximity to him before, and realized he was a lot more intimidating up close.

Especially right now.

His eyes, emerald green seemed to swirl with energy. It was as entrancing as it was intimidating and for just a moment Aayla wondered if she could fall into those eyes.

Being this close to him was also slightly disorienting. As an empath she was used to feeling emotions from people, just magnified by the Force. She could generally tell what people around her were feeling. But Harry was different. He was completely blank. He might as well have been a rock for all the emotions she was getting from him.

"I'm not letting you go until you agree to let me go with you," she stated, wishing her voice didn't quiver so much or have quite the tinge of desperation in it.

Harry scowled down at her, his voice taking on a cold and dangerous quality. "You think you can _force_ me to teach you?"

Aayla's senses were screaming 'danger' at her but she ignored them. This was too important. She couldn't let her dark vision come to pass. "I won't let you walk away simply because I don't understand something! That could just be something else you could teach me."

"Why should I bother?" Harry asked, with scorn filling his voice, not backing away, nor making any move to engage her physically.

Aayla's voice was rising and she pointed her finger right in Harry's face, her temper combining with her desperation to get the point across. "Because I saw it! If you don't, then everything I've fought for will be destroyed. Everyone I know will die!"

Harry's voice was utterly apathetic and ice cold as he stared down at her. His voice added a mocking tone, "What happened to 'no attachments?' Those that pass on… well according to you they shouldn't be mourned. They'd just be 'joining the Force,' right?'"

"Jedi will die! My friends. Innocent people… _children..._ will die!" Aayla responded, the vision of the darkness in her mind rising again. She stepped forward, looking up at Harry practically nose to nose with him less than an inch of space between the two of them. She felt herself losing her composure and struggled to keep it but she was losing the battle. In her mind the horror of death after death of betrayal and darkness filled her, not just her mind, but her emotions.

Harry's eyes bored into hers, not backing away from her invasion of his personal space in the slightest. His tone not changing as it cracked like a whip. "Innocent people and children die all the time. What makes these ones so special? Who cares if a few more die?"

"I care, damn it!" Aayla snarled physically poking him in the chest with enough force that his body shifted slightly back as she pressed forward to glare up at him, her entire body heaving with emotion.

Harry's expression was blank for a moment and silence descended as those words hung in the air.

Aayla worried she had gone a step too far by almost escalating this to a physical confrontation. One of the cardinal rules of diplomacy and negotiation was to never be the one to first escalate things to physical violence. She winced at how easily her control had frayed and snapped.

Harry had just seemed to press her buttons one after another, and she'd lost her cool, and now she'd have no chance of staying with the duo. Once more the audible cries of betrayal and pain, from children and Jedi filled her mind. Their pain as their light was extinguished from the galaxy and darkness gleefully took its place. For just a moment she felt despair well up inside her,

Despair gave way to confusion as the expression on Harry's face shifted.

What had once been cold and scornful had first gone to blank, and then it changed to a gentle smile and his entire demeanor shifted.

"Okay," he said simply.

Aayla scowled up at him and then blinked as the word and its connotations penetrated her mind.

"Huh?" was her eloquent reply

Harry looked genuinely pleased and glanced back at Ahsoka, in an official sounding voice laced with magic he spoke, "Ahsoka Tano, Aayla Secura is hereby exempt from any secrecy oath you've made to me. We'll get one from her later."

Ahsoka blinked as she felt a slight twist in the Force as the meaning of the words settled into her mind.

Harry turned back to Aayla, an impish grin on his face. "Alright Blue, we'll talk about your oath after you find out all you'll need to know about them and their effects from Ahsoka."

Harry patted her on the head and said, "Welcome to the _Gryffindor_," then pushed past her and out into the hold.

She turned and watched him leave, utterly bewildered by what had just taken place. Her previous anger and desperation had so completely shifted to confusion that she was struggling to process and catch up. Harry's mood swings were giving her whiplash.

Aayla, at a complete loss now as to how she should respond, looked to Ahsoka for clarification. "What… just happened?"

Ahsoka looked tired, especially after the emotional upheaval she experienced when she witnessed the Council's latest betrayal, but there was a slight smile on her face as she walked by Aayla. "I believe you just passed a test."

"Test?" she gawked at Ashoka's back, but Ahsoka did not respond or enlighten her, which left Aayla all alone in the room.

Aayla watched her leave with a befuddled expression on her face. _'What could he have possibly tested me over, and how did I pass?'_

She thought back to what had happened, specifically his clinical analysis of the failings of the Order, and the dividing lines that were being drawn by its leadership. She requested training, and volunteered for an oath, only to be harshly denied, and it was done in a way that confused Ahsoka too.

Then he started talking about some other topic, how, after Yoda, Skywalker and Ahsoka were both considered powerful and successful. Why? '_Because they were reckless, emotional beings._'

She didn't get it, and it was where she became completely lost. Her mind ground to a halt as that thought finally registered. Was it as simple as that? He had just explained how emotions were necessary. Was showing strong emotions what he wanted?

Or was it even simpler than that? What had he asked? '_Who cares if they die?'_ In her desperation, she gave an honest reply, one she only now realized went against many of the main tenets of the Jedi Code itself, even if they would want to pretend that it didn't..

'_I care!_'

She didn't even quite comprehend yet what about that statement caused him to change his mind. Was it her vocally and angrily expressing her opinion? Was it her declaring that she cared, and had an attachment to the beings who also served in the Order? She truly was no closer to understanding his logic now than when she had started to ponder his actions and words.

All she knew was that she would stay with them.

With the final revelation that she would stay aboard the Gryffindor, her legs collapsed out from underneath her.

All at once the past few days caught up with her. From the near-escapes on Nar Shaddaa, to seeing Force abilities that she'd never dreamed of, to seeing the heartbreaking scene of Harry speaking with the slaves, to meeting with the Council, and now securing her spot on the ship after being provoked.

She felt tears fall down her face as she realized she wouldn't be kicked or ordered off the ship that promised to potentially open a path to a future that didn't involve the death of everyone she knew… including herself.

She struggled to pull herself together, trying to calm herself but it all hit her at once. The first sob finally broke through.

She put her hand to her head as the tears fell while she tried to calm the storm of emotions. The vision had impacted her so viscerally, the deaths of so many dying in pain, agony, and betrayal. She had felt them all. Not the least of which was her own death. The fear, the hurt, the broken hope and dreams that came with each death. The sensation of sinking into darkness and then… nothing. Horrifying.

She had barely any time to ponder that vision before she'd been pushed to try and stay on the ship, and then talk to the Jedi Council, and then argued with Harry. She hadn't had any time to process everything. She had sectioned off her reaction to the vision, focusing on the issues at hand. But now, absolutely alone in essentially a storage closet of a strange ship, it overwhelmed her all at once.

"Here," a soft voice said.

She jerked in surprise at the sudden presence of someone else in the room, someone she hadn't even sensed. Aayla further flinched that anyone could see her like this, rubbing her eyes rapidly, even knowing it was futile. Many of the hardline Masters of the Order would harshly berate her for such a loss of composure.

She looked up and started slightly. Not a few inches from her was Harry. He was kneeling down and holding out a clean piece of finely tailored cloth for her to take. The action was so unexpected that Aayla looked at him blankly, not comprehending.

Harry smiled a kind smile and reached forward and wiped the cloth over her cheek in a surprisingly gentle touch.

She held still though a brief frown crossed her face as even the touch didn't seem to generate any sort of reading on his emotions. For an empath, that confused her further. She was so used to feeling a rush of emotions when there was a touch. It told her about people, their thoughts and intentions.

She'd often felt the gamut of emotions, happiness, gratefulness, anger, deceit, though it was usually always tinged with attraction or lust. Except Harry. He was still a complete blank to her.

He continued to wipe gently at the stray tears that still were on her face and had collected at her chin. She took the piece of cloth from him in order to begin wiping her own face as she took another steadying breath, cursing herself for the shudder in it. "I'm sorry. I'm a Jedi… I shouldn't just… break down like this."

Harry snorted a little bit, as he turned and easily sat down beside her on the ground. Though instead of scorn or irritation that had been there earlier, his face now reflected a bit of sadness. "Like I said. You're a living being. I know this may come as a shock but emotions are okay."

At her lack of response, and the way she turned her head to look away in shame, Harry reached over and turned her head gently but insistently back toward him to look into her eyes. "You're not going to fall to the Dark Side and take over the galaxy because your emotions finally got the best of you in a stressful time while all alone in the back of a ship after what could charitably be called a long day."

Aayla smiled a little bit at the weak joke, but the result was still only temporary. She felt like a failure. No other Jedi behaved like this, at least as far as she knew. She had always been called emotional, and her empathic abilities hadn't helped, but to lose her composure like this was definitely not the Jedi way.

Harry settled down quietly, leaning back against the bulkhead as he watched Aayla studiously avoid his gaze. He hadn't meant to push her to a point where she broke like that. He had simply been pushing her buttons to try and get her to see the hypocrisy of her statements and the Order's tenets as a whole.

He had no problem reducing someone to tears if the situation called for it. But… the brief explosion of emotion was what he expected, not a complete collapse like he was seeing.

"Do you want to talk about it?" he asked softly.

Aayla looked at him and frowned, instead of pondering why she should open up and spill her deepest secrets and hidden shame to a total stranger, she instead blurted out, "Why are you acting so different?"

Harry tilted his head with a little bit of an amused smile on his face, inviting her to continue.

Aayla gestured obliquely, clarifying her question "Just a minute ago you were… cold and… uncaring."

Harry raised an eyebrow a hint of a smile on his face, "You mean emotionless."

Aayla flinched slightly at that statement and deflated immediately. Emotionless was truly not a state that Jedi coveted. Serenity was the goal, but in the end, they weren't all that different. Either way, it was rare she achieved a sense of serenity, doubly so because of the emotions she constantly sensed from others with her empathy.

It was just as difficult for her not to succumb to her baser instincts and emotions when confronted with a stressful situation. Normally she managed to control herself so that she didn't end up in this state, but Harry had hit several soft points for her.

Normally she persevered and managed to control herself, and she never lost control in front of others. She had always managed to keep it in, her personal shame never becoming public. Until now

She couldn't help it this time, as she felt her lip quiver first. She shut her eyes as tightly as she could, somehow hoping that if she couldn't see anything, then no one would see her at her weakest moment.

She held her breath without thinking, and then, when her lungs burned and she could take it no more, she gasped for air, only it wasn't the sound of a gasp that escaped from her lips, but a half sob. She put her hand to her head trying to control her sudden onslaught of emotions.

She _never_ lost composure like this. Ever.

But… all those deaths. All those faces. Dying in shock and horror. And for a brief moment it felt that the fate of the Order and universe rested on her to avert that horror and that she was going to fail. That had been worse than all the faces she'd already seen die in this war. These were all personal. She'd not just seen them, but felt them all.

She'd never had a Force vision like that. It had destroyed her equilibrium.

Harry wrapped an arm around her shoulder gently. Aayla stiffened before relaxing slightly, he was warm and comforting and space was cold, so the closet they were in seemed chilly, without her having to deal with a further influx of emotions. She shivered before allowing herself to be comforted at least a little bit.

Harry's voice was soft and soothing, as he began to speak into her conical shaped ear, "To answer your question, I'm still rather… irritated with our slaver guests. Your presence and initial lie didn't help your case. Then you turn around and start asking me to show you something that, as far as I can tell, no one else that you're likely to run into can perform. All this, when you've already admitted to spying on me."

She pondered his words as she tried to ignore the sensation of more tears falling down her face and dripping from her chin. It was true, this couldn't have been counted as a 'normal' day by any stretch of the imagination, and her own arrival had no doubt complicated matters for him. Having to deal with an Jedi fraught with unrestrained emotion yelling about a vision no doubt only further annoyed him.

"Regarding this vision you've received, I wasn't entirely convinced that it wasn't just a manipulation to get closer and continue to spy upon me and Ahsoka," Harry went on as if he was reading her mind, "So I needed to know how honest you were."

"I needed to know the real you, and you'd be amazed at what people reveal about themselves when they're worked up," Harry said as he chuckled a little bit.

"You mean when you get them angry?" Aayla said tiredly, looking up at him as she felt Harry once again wipe away some of the freshly fallen tears on her face.

"Well… angry, giddy, desperate, aroused. Any of those tend to work," Harry replied blandly, a small smile on his face. "Drunk can also work, but can also distort the personality. So I tend to shy away from that route."

Aayla blinked and looked up at him, shock riding freely on her face at the comment about arousal. Briefly, she wondered for a moment if he knew the last two moments in her vision, and found herself blushing a bit. But his expression was only amused, he didn't have a knowing look. She elbowed him lightly, and managed a small smile.

Harry took the nudge in good humor. His expression turned more somber, though his voice remained gentle. "I admit that I was deliberately trying to provoke you. So I pressed at spots that seemed like they might be sensitive. I do apologize, at least a little bit for the approach I took, and how I said what I did."

"So you didn't mean it?" Aayla asked, her tone a mix of confusion and accusation.

"I didn't say that," Harry replied, his tone gentle but firm. "I didn't say I was sorry for _what_ I said, just _how_ I said it, and how I was provoking you."

When Aayla looked at him, as she tried to understand what he was saying, Harry continued, "Ms. Secura, I know you barely know me. You don't know my history. You don't know what I've discussed or taught Ahsoka."

"I have made it very clear that I have a large problem with your Jedi Order. I see a great many things that are completely illogical or I just flat out don't like. I freely admit, I am biased and until I see counter proof, that isn't likely to change." Harry stated honestly.

"But don't think that I don't recognize that you've done in order to be here, and from what I heard from that holovid, you maneuvered that whole meeting with the Council so that you could push them into a situation where they would allow you to stay here," Harry said gently.

"The question I don't know yet is the real reason why. In your own words, without being provoked just short of attempting to stab me with your laser sword." There was a brief pause, "Do you want to tell me about it?"

Aayla frowned, she could read the sincerity in his tone and eyes. She ducked her head slightly, her eyes focusing on the floor. "You heard me mention my visions to the Council."

It wasn't a question, it was a statement, so Harry didn't say anything in response.

"I wasn't kidding when I said I had a vision of a possible future. It was one that showed me what would happen if I didn't stay with you," Her voice shook a little bit but she did her best to remain calm. "I saw things, terrible things. I saw the death of just about every single person I know and yes, even care about."

"I saw their deaths. I _felt_ their deaths. I felt the emotions they were feeling as their life faded from their body. I felt them disappear and join the Force, every one of them in agony and feeling betrayed. One by one, and there were hundreds of them. Including almost everyone I know. Dozens of children I recognize from the temple," she shuddered again and felt Harry's arm squeeze her reassuringly over her shoulder.

"Then I saw my own death, and I felt every single bit of pain, confusion, and terror the others were feeling magnified a hundred times. I felt everything the moment I died. Heat from the world, pain from blaster bolts hitting my body."

"I saw and felt all of that in the span of a few seconds. I can't close my eyes now and _not_ see them all staring back at me or feel what they were feeling." The tears had already begun to fall again as her mind once again turned to that bone chilling vision she so desperately wished she could forget.

She looked up at him, and had no idea how helpless she looked at that very moment to him, but she welcomed his embrace as he switched from a one armed hug of companionship, to a full embrace of comfort. "I will tell you, that's the one area you Jedi have me beat all hollow. The seeing paths to the future."

"I was told I don't have the Inner Eye for seeing such things," Harry replied in a tone that was dry and sarcastic "Of course then that same woman proceeded to walk into a wall. So… her opinion on 'the Sight' was questionable at best."

Aayla laughed at the idea of a seer walking into a wall, and only then finally realized where the handkerchiefs were coming from, as she saw him conjure one from thin air with the briefest of disturbances from the Force. This time though, he handed her the handkerchief, which allowed her to keep some of her shattered dignity.

"You know just how to switch dampers and make someone feel better, don't you?" she said quietly as she blew her nose.

Harry grinned impishly. "Improper use of humor and sarcasm. It's one of my many character flaws."

"Ahsoka said something about your character flaws. Though, when she talked about them, I distinctly remember a Zeltron's chest being involved," Aayla said wryly.

Harry snorted lightly, "I refuse to comment upon that as I may end up incriminating myself. And I hardly see appreciation for beauty as a flaw."

She rolled her eyes and muttered, "Pervert," but that didn't stop her from sinking further into his embrace. There was just something comforting about it.

After a prolonged silence that lasted a few minutes, he asked, "Feeling better?"

Aayla found herself nodding and managing a smile, indeed feeling better than she had been feeling before her emotional explosion.

"Oh good. Otherwise I was going to have to break out my store of chocolate," Harry said, his voice tinged with relief.

"Your chocolate stores?" Aayla echoed.

Harry nodded, "At times, it's more effective than a calming charm, especially on those of the feminine persuasion."

At Aayla's raised eyebrow he continued, "Oh yes, I have all different kinds in case of emergencies. Chocolate bars for immediate fixes. I have chocolate chips for cookies and baking. There's chocolate ice cream, when cooling down is important. Chocolate cake mix for parties, chocolate powder for hot chocolate when I need to warm up, and chocolate syrup for…" Harry broke off from his ramble.

Aayla raised her brow as she stared at him, wondering why he trailed off, "Chocolate syrup for what?"

Harry grinned impishly "Maybe someday I'll show you, Blue."

Aayla blinked several times, and then narrowed her eyes slightly. "I'm not going to be safe one minute around you, am I?"

Harry just laughed in response before pulling away to stand up, offering her a hand to do the same. "C'mon, I'm going to check on our guests, we've still got a long ways to go before we get to Kashyyyk."

Aayla took Harry's hand, letting him pull her to a standing position. She was grateful that he didn't pry further into her thoughts or attempt to make her talk. He just let her follow him into the main cargo hold. He could obviously tell she was tired and he nudged her toward one of the unused cots that seemed to appear. Aayla was emotionally and physically tired enough that she didn't complain.

She spent the next few hours and watched as Harry spoke to a few of the recently freed slaves in the hold that had woken up. This time he did it without the bubble of silence around them. Though she only made it those few minutes before she fell into an exhausted sleep on a cot Harry had provided for her as well.

Most of the slaves were exhausted from their ordeals, and seemed to be more than content to spend time catching up on sleep, but others stayed awake sitting on their beds and talking, always quietly and nervously. Aayla knew that even though they were sleeping on cots, they were probably the first fresh beds they'd had in awhile, possibly the first good sleep as well.

Aayla watched when she woke this time not just focused or turning over Harry's 'magic' in her mind. She spent quite a bit of time watching him with a more impartial eye, and realized that Harry seemed to be very experienced or had been trained with people in these sort of situations.

He moved slowly. Spoke softly and calmly. Didn't raise ever his voice or show anger. He sat on the floor near the cots, giving each person he was talking to her own space. It also gave them a level of perceived power just by sitting with their heads above his. He nodded encouragingly when they spoke. He didn't initiate contact with any of them even when they started crying. He let them comfort one another freely. But didn't flinch when they initiated timid hugs. That alone made him more accessible than Jedi she knew might handle it.

Over the next few days of hyperspace travel, she would become more and more familiar with the sight of how Harry interacted with the slaves. Ahsoka spent most of that time in the cockpit only occasionally coming back to talk to Harry. She wondered when Harry slept because it seemed he was up before her and went to bed after her. She had almost no time to talk to him about his 'magic' because he was almost always taking time to comfort the recently freed slaves. Some of the slaves would come to him individually to talk, others were only brave enough to come in groups.

Aayla finally gave them more space by heading into the cockpit where Ahsoka had gone some time earlier. Ahsoka had spent the last few days quiet and off by herself. Aayla had only seen her occasionally, but the girl seemed to be on an opposite sleep schedule from Aayla on those days so their interactions were quiet. Aayla respected the girl's need for introspection and appreciated that neither Ahsoka nor Harry pressed for details about the vision they were now aware that she had.

Still on the last day of their hyperspace journey, Aayla went looking for the former padawan, intending to talk to her at least a little bit more than the few passing conversations they had the previous days. Harry hadn't really spoken to Ahsoka more than a handful of times very much over the past couple of days either, but mostly because he seemed to be spending the majority of his time with the freed slaves. In fact Aayla realized that she never saw him anywhere but with the slaves during that time.

Ahsoka was found with her eyes focused on the passing hyperspace lines. There wasn't a sound in the cockpit, and most of the pilot station controls in front of her were dimmed. When Aayla sat down in the pilot seat next to her Ahsoka blinked slightly and gave her a small smile.

"What is it you're doing?" Aayla asked curiously, she had been doing the same thing many times over the past few days and Aayla had been focused on some of the other things she had seen, discussion on what Harry had done, and discussion of her own Oath, something she had nervously but willingly given.

Whatever she was doing though, it definitely did not seem like meditation. Too much active concentrating.

"It's a discipline of magic that Harry said I could start working on without a focus, called Occlumency," Ahsoka said before she looked briefly thoughtful, then added, "Huh, it feels nice to be able to say that to someone."

Aayla tilted her head, "What's Occlumency?"

Ahsoka chuckled, "It's a way of defending your mind from attack and manipulation. It also helps with memory recall and focus. Harry said the Jedi do the first step by learning to clear their mind. After that you have to create some sort of safe space in your mind, a construct of whatever you like and start organizing and sorting your memories."

"Sorting your memories?" Aayla inquired curiously, and thought the appeal of being able to defend one's mind against manipulation was definitely a selling point for her. At one point in her life, her memories had been wiped because of glitteryll poisoning when she'd been captured. To this day she still didn't have all of her memories back, but sorting memories, she didn't understand that part.

Ahsoka furrowed her brow as she stroked one of her head tails idly. "It's hard to explain, and Harry had to actually show me how. But... I'm going in and sorting my memories and storing them each after organizing my mind, so that they're protected."

"Harry explained that once that was done the only people who would be able to access the memories would be myself or anyone I allow. He also said that it would help greatly in my lessons going forward, though we haven't really gotten into how."

Ahsoka looked a little bit sheepish. "We've actually not done anything practical in other subjects yet, though he's done a few practical demonstrations though."

"Oh, what did he demonstrate?" Aayla asked, thinking back to what she had already seen.

"Just ask Harry to demonstrate 'noise', and make sure he demonstrates with water," Ahsoka grinned impishly, remembering her own introduction to the water. Then her expression grew more serious. "The rest we're sort of taking slowly, at the moment he's making up the instructions as he goes."

"I thought you said that this was more formal and structured instruction," Aayla protested with a frown.

Ahsoka nodded, "It is, but he said he's only seen it instructed from a young age as a student, or from about my age when someone has a founding in all of the different areas of magic. He's never seen it instructed to people older who already have some experience in using magic, but no concept of what he calls the basics."

"So he's adjusting the courses to account for our prior training then?" Aayla asked.

"Partially," Ahsoka nodded hesitantly, "Though Harry has phrased it as 'adjusting it to include deprogramming for all the idiocy I've been taught'. But he also has none of the course material relevant to all this with him. He has some safe house he's alluded to somewhere on Kashyyyk, that was the main reason we were travelling there next."

"The fact that they're extreme hardliners regarding slavery is only a bonus," Ahsoka chuckled a little bit.

Aayla pondered the ramifications, "A formal education in manipulating the Force."

She looked at Ahsoka again, curiosity quickly getting the better of her, "What all have you witnessed him do besides the teleporting and shrinking and the room growing thing?"

"I've seen him change one thing to another, which is an art he calls Transfiguration," Ahsoka began to list off after a pause, ticking off her fingers. "I have seen him stick things to walls that then become immovable until he releases them, which is apparently a class of spell that falls under the category of 'charms.' Of course I've seen him literally create something out of nothing."

Aayla nodded a little bit, she had witnessed that herself with the conjured handkerchiefs.

"That art is apparently different than transfiguration, and is called conjuration," Ahsoka elaborated slightly. "At first I thought he was somehow transfiguring air into the new material, but he went into some long technical explanation about how things work that made my head spin."

"An explanation of the way things work with the Force?" asked Aayla unable to keep surprise from her voice.

"Yep," said Ahsoka brightly, her inner calm that had been a result of her mediation and occlumency practice now gone. "It is like the astrophysics of the Force."

"So... it's like a study of what the Force can and can't do. Different rules for the most part?" Aayla tilted her head curiously as she pondered that.

Ahsoka frowned and hesitated at that. "I don't... know that I would go that far. More like a study into the different ways we can use the Force."

Aayla tilted her head in the other direction as a puzzled look crossed her face. "I don't understand the difference. We're not supposed to 'use' the Force, but be guided by it."

"Harry has said to me multiple times, that he doesn't believe that there is anything Magic _can't_ do."

Ahsoka held up her hand, to cut off Aayla's follow up statement. "He says that there are some things Magic _shouldn't_ be used for. There are consequences for certain actions. And that Magic can and does exact a price for the abuse of its gift."

Aayla nodded a little bit, there were similar thoughts along the Force. Channeling too much, trying to do too much, could kill a Jedi. Many Jedi in the past had died using the Force to such an extent they literally burnt their bodies out, almost always in defense of others. Dark side users also tended to extract a price on their bodies as they acted as well."

That was a bit of an ominous statement for Aayla, as she considered the implications. Aayla's mind briefly flashed back to the discussion of oaths that Ahsoka had explained to her several days earlier, before she had given hers.

"_Making an oath is a commitment. Making one and sealing it with magic is an even bigger commitment," Ahsoka tried to explain. "So Magic views a violation of an oath as an affront and exacts the price. So if I talked about this to you before Harry released me from the oath to talk to you, the price it would make me pay is my connection to Magic or the Force." _

_"But... what if you had a slip of the tongue? Or what if someone forced it out of you? Like... an interrogation or something?" Aayla asked, her brow furrowing with the possibilities._

_"Magic itself will help protect the secrets. It won't let me just slip. As for interrogation, working on occlumency will protect me from anyone with the capabilities to extract the knowledge," Ahsoka had said reassuringly. _

_Her expression shifted into a teasing smirk. "Just… make sure Harry doesn't try and slip any requirements about showing your breasts into the oath." _

Ahsoka continued, unaware that Aayla had been remembering their earlier conversation. "Harry's people had multiple ways to coerce people to give up their secrets, many of them involuntarily, as well as ways to modify memories."

"He's teaching me how to fight those methods, then said he would teach me how to perform a few of them. Ahsoka shrugged slightly, returning to the topic at hand. "Some of what we talked about is crazy abstract though, like what he calls divination and prophecy, which he says he can't teach."

Ahsoka laughed a little, "He's still rather stunned at how often Jedi seem to look to the Force hoping to see the future. Harry said he has no talent at all for that and very few of his people ever genuinely did."

"On the other hand, something like transfiguration is completely different. The basics make sense... in theory."

Ahsoka was interrupted from continuing by a slight bark from the bird that Aayla had just thus far only seen on the back of a chair and briefly on Harry's shoulder. The bird had been a silent observer and both women had sort of forgotten about her presence.

The bird suddenly hopped off the chair and onto Ahsoka's shoulder, with a fluttering of wings. Ahsoka winced a bit expecting to feel the bird's talons, but the bird seemed to be able to just settle in without gripping the muscle in her shoulder as it settled in.

Ahsoka started slightly and then smiled. "Well hey girl, that's the first time you've been nice to me."

The bird ruffled its feathers haughtily but didn't reply, though let out a contented sound when Ahsoka tentatively began to stroke her chest feathers. "This is Hedwig. She's apparently from Harry's home world, and is a species called an Owl according to him, they sleep in the day, and hunt at night."

"Harry certainly has interesting pets if nothing else," Aayla thought aloud

Hedwig immediately barked in disapproval at Aayla complete with glare.

Ahsoka stage whispered, "She prefers 'companion' though Harry calls her a 'familiar'. In my experience, it is best to simply treat her as if she's sentient."

There was a short bark from the owl, and Ahsoka added sheepishly "And Harry said it's safest to just assume she's the smartest one on the ship at any given time."

"Though, if we're talking about pets, I think Hedwig thinks Harry is her pet," Ahsoka said with a little giggle, though her statement was punctuated by an affirmative and approving little bark from the bird.

Aayla tried to fit this avian in with her current knowledge of Harry, and just couldn't see the relation. He seemed to be a highly complicated man, who defied all attempts to describe and categorize him in a simple manner. Aayla frowned at how wide his skill set was from what she'd seen, "Definitely curious to know what kind of work he prefers to do when a mothering droid and a nocturnal avian are his primary companions."

"Don't forget Dobby," Ahsoka added with a grin, still stroking Hedwig's feathers.

"Yeah... I have no idea what to think about Dobby," Aayla admitted.

"All of this does make me wonder what he does with his time though. He doesn't seem to be an active bounty hunter and I haven't seen anything to smuggle," Aayla said.

Ahsoka laughed, "I have no idea what he does. He certainly doesn't spend much time as a bounty hunter. He said he only registered after someone offered him a slot in the guild after he 'accidentally' saved some guy's life in a bar. The bounty hunter used his credentials to blow off the local police afterwards, and that apparently intrigued Harry. He said that was ultimately the only reason he joined was so could avoid local law enforcement too when he wants to."

"He has no need for money. He appears to just go wherever the flow takes him," Ahsoka frowned a little bit as she verbally puzzled out some of his issues. "The only overarching thing is that he's searching for some things. That's why we were on Nar Shaddaa."

Ahsoka elaborated at Aayla's curious look. "He performed a job for someone, and in return, his reward was delivering some package to some slicer. The whole point of it was merely the introduction to the slicer. Harry paid him ten thousand up front, and another twenty thousand when the slicer mentioned the bounty hunters hanging around the ship and elsewhere."

"And then promised 500 thousand creds if he could find some information on a specific person on the list," Ahsoka said with a frown. "Though… he seemed to be completely caught off guard with the idea that the person _could_ be found."

Aayla blinked, that was a lot of credits no matter what he was looking for. "Who is he searching for?"

"No idea. He hasn't really talked about it. Though I haven't asked. He doesn't pry about my history or anything I've done. So I've sorta extended the same courtesy," Ahsoka shrugged a little bit.

"Do you have a name?" Aayla asked curiously.

Ahsoka tilted her head before she sat forward to the ship's computer keyed up a datafile on the ship she had access to see if there was anything easily accessible.

"If he didn't tell you are you sure you should be looking for it?" Aayla asked She still had it in her mind his distaste for her when he thought she was a spy. She definitely didn't want to be accused of spying after making progress.

"He told me he didn't have anything to hide in there. Any important secrets he has are in his head," Ahsoka said with a shrug. Unfortunately it took Ahsoka about thirty seconds of going through the computer to realize that organization was definitely _not_ Harry's strong suit. At least not any sort of organization she could determine.

She found herself reading recipes for bizarre food dishes and drinks. Files on planetary geological surveys and historical sites. There was even a file labeled thesis whose title made Ahsoka blink "An in depth theoretical examination of psychological impacts of long term youth exposure to a reclusive pre-industrial society through an examination of response to high stress situations, with a focus on concern for mortal peril."

"This is about as organized as slime on a hutt's backside," quipped Ahsoka.

"Ahsoka!" Aayla said, mortified at the language that was just spouted by the younger woman "You were on Nar Shaddaa for less than a day, when did you start speaking like one of them?"

"Whatever, '_Blue_'," said Ahsoka with a laugh. "Stick around Harry enough and you'll find that your vocabulary expands accordingly."

"I do not wish to start swearing like a spice smuggler," replied Aayla.

"True, that wouldn't be the career choice I'd see you emulating," Ahsoka said as if she were agreeing with the thought.

"No, more like a high-priced dancer." Harry's voice came from the doorway.

Aayla whipped her head around to see Harry leaning against the doorframe, arms crossed with a look of amusement on his face, though his eyes flicked to Hedwig, a bit surprised at the owl's friendliness.

Her eyes narrowed as a flash of irritation crossed her face. "Just because I'm a Twi'lek doesn't make me a dancer."

"It wasn't the Twi'lek bit that made me assume that, so much as it was the skintight black leather outfit with the suggestive cutaways that you're rockin," Harry said with a wide grin.

Aayla glanced down at the outfit she was _still _wearing and cursed herself as she felt herself blush. The very large exposed valley of her own cleavage seemed to speak for itself in this case. "Well, I'm not a stereotype," she huffed ineffectively.

"So you can't dance? You move like you had dance lessons at some point," Harry replied with an amused grin. "I can recognize a predator when I see one, and most of the good ones have taken formal dance classes."

"Yes, I've taken dance lessons in the past. I frequently need to infiltrate places where the only 'in' is as a Twi'lek dancer or slave," Aayla said with a slight shrug.

"I wouldn't have thought the Jedi would covertly send in women to seduce men to find evidence or assassinate anyone," Harry said with a frown. "Sounds seduction and elimination would be against their morals."

She blushed initially at the thought, then responded angrily, "I do not perform seduction missions for the Jedi Order."

Harry raised an eyebrow and moved into the cockpit, Aayla shifted out of the pilot seat for him and he settled in without comment. He glanced at the time and noted they were coming up on Kashyyyk shortly.

He glanced back at Aayla with a wry grin. "Blue, you do realize that we're going to a planet where most of the denizens walk around naked. Where exactly are you planning on getting a change of clothes?"

Aayla frowned but before she could reply, Harry hesitated and then visibly brightened "Unless of course you were planning on taking up local customs and walking around naked too! If so, I totally approve."

Aayla sputtered as Harry's playfulness threw her off. Ahsoka broke down in giggles at her expression which focused Aayla's attention on her. "What about Ahsoka? She's wearing less than me!"

"I'm not dressed in black leather," Ahsoka supplied with a cheeky grin.

Aayla had immediately blushed at the silliness of her come back and then shot a betrayed look at the girl who had responded as good as she got.

Harry glanced over at Ahsoka who was now blushing a bit "Well, we were going to stop and get her some clothes on Nar Shaddaa, but the whole 'Kill the Jedi' tone of the conversations sort of binned those plans. So we'll need to try and find clothes for her, or I guess she could follow your example and just walk around naked, too."

"I am not walking around naked!" Aayla protested loudly.

She would have begun a longer rant but she caught the wink that Harry shot a blushing, but grinning Ahsoka. Aayla huffed slightly, trying to ignore her own blush from Harry's teasing. She purposefully changed the subject. "Ahsoka was trying to pull up the list of people that you gave to the hacker to see who you are looking for."

Harry looked at them with a raised eyebrow, a glance at the countdown ticking to the exit of hyperspace.

"We were looking because you said there may be historical figures, and I wonder if the Jedi archives might have some mention of any of these people?" Aayla explained.

"They don't," Harry replied easily as he began to prepare for the exit from hyperspace.

Aayla frowned, "How do you know?"

"I checked two or three years ago," Harry shrugged lightly.

"You... sliced into the Jedi Archives? What do you need to hire a slicer for then? Anyone who could do that would be a legend," Ahsoka asked in disbelief.

It was true, no one had ever managed to break the encryption on the archives. It was said that a Jedi had originally used the Force to come up with the basis for the underlying systems.

"Nah," Harry said, "I just walked in the front-door and checked the records. Didn't find anything."

Ahsoka and Aayla both had dropped jaws at this. Harry was seemingly unaware as he reached forward and dropped the ship smoothly out of hyperspeed over the planet Kashyyyk.

Harry angled his approach toward the planet and the direction he knew the city Rwookrrorro was in. He flicked open the com to signal his approach and frowned when he only got static. "Huh. That's strange. No challenge from the traffic controllers. Rwookrrorro's traffic is hardly ever too busy for them to be slow on the uptake."

Harry continued to head to the planet though he felt his sense of something being wrong growing inside of him.

Ahsoka apparently felt it too because she had snapped out of her shock and was checking scanners. "Harry... I'm reading... several large ships in the city, not in the docking bays..."

Harry glanced over at the display she was looking at with a frown, on his face.

Ahsoka was frowning, as well "I'm reading weapon's discharges from the ships. They're under attack."

Harry's stared out the forward view screen as if he could see the city and the ships inside of it from there. Though his preoccupation didn't stop his fingers from moving over the controls quickly, as if they had a mind of their own.

"The scanners recognize the ship as trandoshan... slave ships. It's... a slave raid," Ahsoka said grimly.

Harry froze for just a second before his fingers flew over the instruments even faster than before, and the ship accelerated toward the planet. His face was concentrating but he commented wryly, "You know Ahsoka... I thought I was the only one whose luck was this bad. My 'saving people thing' has kicked in more times since I've met you than it has in years.

ooOoOOoOoo

**Author's notes: Oh NOES slaver attack! Sharp Eyed Shout Out to anyone who guesses what canon event is going off the rails next! **

**I want to start by saying that this was a bit more drama filled chapter than some of the previous ones. I'm sorry if it didn't have the humor you've come to expect. **

**This chapter and the previous one were both written way before the recent revelations of Ahsoka Tano as Fulcrum in the new Rebels series. Until that appearance no one had known what had happened to her. So. I was free to make it up. Now Harry's already messed with fate. Whee!**

**Anyone who complains that Aayla was acting out of character, my response is that the trauma of not just watching, but feeling everyone you know die will do that too you. She needed to kind of process that. And yes, Harry WAS pressing her buttons, so he was a trifle more insulting toward her. But the only way to get someone to think is challenge their ideals, and he is. It was a character development chapter. **

**To those people who still think I'm bashing the Jedi Order. First, I really haven't made up any actions they didn't take in canon. Sure one Jedi master was a jerk. And Harry responded, but you'll notice that his comments barely touch on that one. I'm presenting their actions from a certain point of view, which is Harry's. Harry is not always right. He knows this. But he also provokes people until challenged. So. It's the same thing with Anakin, the perspective on him is generally from Ahsoka's point of view, so he is idealized, we haven't gotten to the reality yet.**

**Finally, Harry really has to poke at a Jedi's ideals to get them to think so you'll see him do this at least 3 or four more times throughout the story. I can hardly just say "And Harry talked to Aayla and made her question the logic of the Jedi decisions and she agreed." Er…? Wut?**

**Thanks to stargatesg1fan1 for grammar editing once more.**

**Thank you to Plum as always for the massive story assistance, the little tweaks and for a major change in the basic structure of how I write. I'm always learning and improving!**

**Plums notes: Yeah, I got nothing this time. **

ooOoOOoOoo

**Alternative chapter titles-**

"**Aayla ends up on her knees and begs all in one chapter!" - Harry Potter**

"**Harry Potter is an Asshole." - Aayla. **

"I'm pretty sure you tried to use that one before." - Harry.

"And it still applies." - Aayla.

"**If the store room's a rockin, don't come a knockin!" - Harry Potter.**

"**Excuse me, do I get my one holocom call?" - Bounty hunter locked in cupboard**

"**I come off looking pretty badly in these chapters." - Barriss Offee**

"You deserve it. traitor." - Ahsoka.

"**Hoot hoot hooooot hoot hooot hooooot. Hoot HOOT!" - Hedwig.**

"No, we are not renaming this story 'Hedwig's adventures in putting up with her idiot pet and the sexual tension between him and his barely dressed friends.'" - Harry.

**Alternative titles submitted by readers for last chapter: **

**"Harry Potter and his impossibly hard rod!" -Harry.**

**"That time Harry got his rod cut in half." -Aayla.**

(Selection of those submitted by Honest Lunar Raven. Feel free to submit your own in a review for this chapter. Shoutouts to good ones in the next chapter.)


	7. Tis Naught but a Flesh Wound!

**~Chapter Seven~**

**~Tis Naught but a Flesh Wound~**

"Harry, I'm reading nearly a dozen ships in the city itself," Ahsoka informed him as her fingers moved confidently over the sensor controls adjusting and examining the information as fast as she could.

Her voice was intense but not panicked as she continued, "Mostly freighters, but they look to have a modified assault frigate with them as well."

"There hasn't been a slave raid like this reported in years," Aayla interjected. Her voice had also become calm and was modulated in a no-nonsense tone.

"Well, there's one going on now. I'm taking us in. We have to help the Wookiees in the city," Harry replied, his eyes narrowed as his fingers flew across the controls.

"Dobby! Lock everything down. Things are going to get bumpy," Harry called out.

There wasn't a response but it didn't look like Harry was expecting one. Silence descended in the cockpit as all three occupants alternated between glances at the planet which nearly filled their view and the scanner readouts Ahsoka was continually pouring over.

"Four minutes to the city," Ahsoka announced as they blasted into the atmosphere. "Harry, I'm reading that one of the larger transports has lifted off… No, make that two of them are outbound."

"They've got their captives and are escaping before any help can arrive," Aayla said tensely.

Her voice was bleak. She knew that there were no Republic reinforcements close enough to respond to the crisis. She couldn't help wondering how many families were about to be torn apart. "We might be able to stop one of the ships… but there's no way we can get both ships. Much less help those in the city at the same time."

"Like hell," Harry replied with a growl, "Ahsoka, what are their outbound vectors?"

Ahsoka's voice was steady with a trace of anger as she responded, "One's headed straight for atmosphere, in this direction, and we'll have intercept in about a minute and a half. The other is flying away from the city and vectored away from us and gaining altitude far more slowly. Judging by their slow speed… best bet is their engines aren't strong enough for the pure vertical lift."

Harry's face was a scowl and his voice came out tersely. "Ahsoka, you flew this pretty well back at Nar Shaddaa when the bounty hunters were taking pot shots at us. Can you fly as well in atmo?"

"Yes, why?" Ahsoka asked, taking a moment to turn her attention from the display to look at Harry.

"Take over," Harry said and immediately keyed a few buttons on his station then promptly stood up. Ahsoka's station gained the primary flight capability and she took over the piloting immediately without a hitch. "Vector us toward the ship that's trying to escape more slowly, don't worry about the one headed this way, as long as we'll pass reasonably close its fine."

"Okay…" Ahsoka did as she was told.

Harry had grabbed his long coat out of a storage compartment in the side of the cockpit and glanced at her, "What's our time to intercept?"

"We'll pass the other ship in a little over a minute, now," Ahsoka replied as she continued to guide to the ship into the atmosphere.

"That's fine. We're still flying over the rest of the fighting in the city right?" Harry clarified, as he slid on the coat quickly.

"Yes, three minutes on that." Ahsoka replied, anticipating his next question.

"Blue, you know how to work a ship's guns?" Harry stopped to look at her a moment. When Aayla looked nonplussed, but nodded. "Good. You're going after the ship that's headed away from us more slowly. Don't let that ship leave. Hit their engines, the guns should be powerful enough to stop it."

"What are you going to be doing?" Aayla demanded.

"I'm going to be headed to the ground and work on stopping the fighting and keep any other ships from taking off." Harry replied, sliding an odd looking belt with several pouches around his hips.

"Is there anything we can do about the ship headed this way?" Aayla asked, and then shook her head slightly. She knew that if they managed to stop one of the two fleeing ships, then it would be considered a miracle.

"Passing them in forty-five seconds!" Ahsoka called out. She already recognized the tone in Harry's voice. It was the same one he had when he had seen the bartender take a blaster bolt in the chest.

Harry scowled but rather than address Aayla's question, he turned away from her toward the cockpit entrance, "Dobby!"

There was a second's pause and Dobby appeared. He bounced on his feet and looked up at Harry, "All secured, Master Harry Potter, sir!"

Harry waved the comment off, "Dobby, we're about to pass a ship in…" he looked over his shoulder at Ahsoka, who didn't need to turn and see him to know he was asking for an update.

"Thirty seconds, in visual range now!" Ahsoka supplied immediately.

Harry turned and pointed toward the cockpit window, "Dobby, that ship has bad people who are trying to make people slaves against their will."

Dobby followed his finger's direction and focused on the ship that was growing bigger by the second. His eyes narrowed in response and his entire body uncharacteristically stilled.

"Your life is paramount, then the captives. For the duration of this mission, all other orders are rescinded. Don't let that ship escape. After you stop it and everyone who is inside of it against their will is safe, you can come back here and see if Ahsoka or Aayla need more help," Harry said in a voice was direct and serious.

"Yes, Master," Dobby said grimly without a trace of his normal excitability, instead his expression was set in a look of determination.

Harry nodded in approval and pointed toward the ship that was quickly growing larger, "Go."

Dobby looked out the forward viewport and could see the ship coming towards them, though its vector was angled up to fly above them. A moment later he disappeared with a pop. Harry turned and didn't even bother giving the ship a second glance.

"Harry are you sure…" Aayla's comment trailed off, as she realized that if the little being could even delay them it would help. Though she was also very starkly reminded of the hangar bay where she had first met him, and the pile of naked people stacked up.

"That ship's not going anywhere, especially when they're still this far into the planet's gravity well. Dobby won't let it," Harry stated confidently, "Ahsoka, how long until we pass over the city?"

"A minute and a half," Ahsoka replied instantly.

"I should go with you. I'd be more helpful on the ground," Aayla said after a brief hesitation. Harry glanced at her with a raised eyebrow for a full five seconds before looking over at Ahsoka.

"Can you shoot and fly at the same time?" He asked. The controls on the ship were set up to do so, after all he was flying solo most of the time.

Ahsoka nodded immediately and actually laughed, "This thing handles way better than it should. It's not a problem. Other than the crap shields this ship is great. Twenty seconds until we're passing over the city."

Harry nodded and gestured for Aayla to stand and follow him. She stood up and looked around as she stepped in his direction, "You have an escape pod to get us down?"

He reached over and gripped her wrist, "Not quite… brace yourself, this will feel-" And he apparated with a crack.

Ahsoka glanced over her shoulder to find the two gone before she turned her attention back to her piloting, a slight shake of her head the only acknowledgement of the newest bout of insanity to infect her life.

Her eyes looked towards the ship that was slowly making its out of the atmosphere by keeping the curvature of the planet between them, but was already almost in visual range due to the speed of Harry's craft.

She flipped the safeties off of the ship's fixed turrets and smiled grimly as instincts honed in two years of fighting flared back to the front of her mind, "Back into the fire."

ooOoOOoOoo

Aayla barely had enough time to process the words said by Harry, much less had the time needed to brace herself. But even if she had been set, it still wouldn't have been enough to prepare her for the sensation of being sucked through a straw while surrounded and bombarded by waves of the Force.

Harry's hand on her wrist seemed to anchor her but, after only a moment, the sensation ended and he let go. She felt the wind whipping past her body, bitter frigid coldness surrounding her, and her lekku trailing behind her as she realized they were in a high-altitude free-fall.

Her eyes opened and the brief glimpse she got of the surrounding area before her eyes watered rapidly from the passing wind, made her realize that they were still a long way up and falling to the city. Before she could do anything but gasp in fear, she felt the Force touch her several times.

Suddenly breathing in the dangerously thin air became infinitely easier. Aayla sucked in a grateful lung-full of air. The frigid upper atmosphere, which had been almost unbearable on her exposed skin, suddenly was warm as she found her entire body surrounded by the Force in a comforting embrace. Her eyes, which had already been squinting to see anything through the rushing winds, suddenly found themselves wide open and no longer buffeted by dangerous winds.

However that was a mixed blessing, because now that she was able to see clearly, she realized just how high they truly were and just how far a fall to the ground they were in for. She found herself _really_ hoping Harry had a plan for this.

Jedi could fall much greater distances than a normal person, but from this height, she would end up dead, just like anyone else. She looked around for Harry since he had let go of her wrist after they had reappeared and Aayla couldn't spot him in free fall with her.

Suddenly she felt the sensation of being grabbed near the waist. She looked down to find Harry's hands on her hips. Then she felt the Force wash over her again as Harry's chest met and then adhered to her back.

Somehow, despite the sound of wind as it passed while they plummeted in free fall, she heard Harry's voice. A second later, even after Harry's words registered in her mind, she realized he had said the words instead of yelled, yet she easily heard him all the same.

"Hey Blue, what's a gorgeous girl like you doing in a place like this?" he asked, an audible trace of humor in his voice.

"Harry, I swear to every god of my ancestors, if this is an excuse to feel me up, I will shove my lightsaber up your ass!" she half shouted, proud of the fact that her voice didn't quaver in the slightest, despite the height in the air or the speed in which they were tumbling through said air.

Aayla could see nothing at all of Harry other than his hands, but she could hear the grin in Harry's voice as he responded, "Wow Blue, I didn't know we'd get into kinks this quickly! I'm glad you opened up first! Though I'm sorry… that's not really my thing. We can talk, but you should know that my safe-word is Phoenix."

Despite his banter they continued to accelerate toward the ground.

Aayla was proud of herself as she kept her voice steady, "I really hope you have a plan so that we don't go splat."

"Of course I do... though I might get distracted by this outfit you're wearing," Harry replied with a laugh, squeezing her hips lightly for emphasis though he didn't move them anywhere inappropriate, "Honestly, what possessed you to come up with an all-leather midriff and cleavage baring combat outfit?

"Is it an 'I'm comfortable in leather' thing, or 'I have a fetish for leather' thing, or is it a 'the enemies are so distracted by what I'm wearing they don't notice me kicking their ass' sorta thing?" Harry's voice was conversational and amused, as if it was an everyday thing to be tumbling through the air like this.

Aayla's back may have been somehow stuck to his chest, but her legs certainly weren't. She brought her foot back, and grinned as she felt the satisfying thump of her heel smacked between his legs.

"Oof. Phoenix… phoenix." Harry muttered, relieved she had hit his inner thigh and not elsewhere, though it had been a close thing.

"Already calling time out Harry? You want me to think you have performance anxiety issues?" Aayla smirked, glad to have finally returned one of the dozens of comments he'd made toward her. Though her smirk died when she realized that she had hit the person she hoped had a plan to keep her from falling to her death.

Harry laughed out loud, genuinely pleased that she finally seemed to be hitting back, "Blue, I promise you, that's one thing I've never been accused of. Well there was the time when I was fourteen before opening the school ball with a formal dance. But I'd like to think that was an isolated issue."

Aayla couldn't believe that he was rambling about a school dance while they were in their current predicament. Below them they could see the city coming up on them quickly. There were clusters of areas where it was easy to see the fighting. Aayla was bewildered as she felt them start to be pushed through the air, not just down but toward the shapes of ships she could begin to make out distantly on the ground.

"Harry, now is when you tell me you have everything under control and you have a plan, or I'm really going to start panicking here," she spoke with a voice that rose in pitch as she realized she was able to start making out individuals beneath them and a firefight worthy of any skirmish she had seen with her clone trooper division.

"My plan is to try and guide us so we land on the ring leader's head and hope that the slavers are so distraught by his death via our heroic sacrifice that the wookiees manage to overwhelm them in their confusion," Harry said with a level tone, "Can't thank you enough for volunteering to join me! With your body mass added to mine we might manage to take out two or three when we land."

There was a pause and then a shriek from Aayla, "WHAT?!"

She felt Harry chuckle in amusement from behind her. "Don't worry about it. We'll be fine. I hope."

"Now isn't the time to explain the theory of what I'm about to do," Harry said speaking over any attempt she made to reply, his voice still calm and level, "If you're really serious about learning from me, you may learn to do this someday. You'll just have to trust me for now."

Aayla was about to say that the ground was coming up awfully fast. But as she opened her mouth to do so she felt a wave of the Force wash over her and their descent started to slow rapidly. Even as she felt the slow, she simultaneously felt another sudden surge and her eyes opened wide.

Up to now, Harry had been a blank slate to her. She hadn't been able to sense anything from him. He didn't register as a Force user except when he actively did something, and even that sensation came from whatever Harry was doing, and not Harry himself. But he was also a complete blank slate when it came to emotions.

All of a sudden that changed on both levels. Behind her she felt a huge disturbance in the Force. It was unlike anything she had ever felt before. She belatedly realized, from what Ahsoka had told her of her adventures thus far with him, that this must be like what the others had felt on Coruscant when Harry had healed the woman to initially attract the attention of the Order.

There was nothing in her prior experiences as a Jedi she could compare what was happening just behind her to, but imagined it was what it was like to be close to a star when the universe decided to ignite the fires that would spark and give it life. It was hot and thrummed with power that seemed to bathe her in its presence.

It was different, in that it had none of the gentle flow that a Jedi Master like Yoda would possess when he decided to flex his spiritual muscles. When he used the Force, it filled the area like a warm and soothing breath of fresh air. It passed over the senses and most in the area could tell he was using it.

What she felt now was nothing like that. The Force was gathered behind her, and Aayla struggled to figure out how to describe it. On one hand it felt almost… primal, like it should be like an animal caught in the wild and brought to captivity, waiting to be freed. But there was no frustration, there was instead glee. The Force seemed to be singing in preparation, like it wanted to be wielded.

It seemed like comparing two entirely separate things because of how different the powers felt, but fi Aayla had to guess, it was more powerful than anything she had ever felt from Yoda or from Anakin. It wasn't just the amount of energies in motion, it was the way the Force seemed… so controlled. As if it was gathering in anticipation and waiting to be unleashed rather than just surrounding someone and filling them and then aiding them in completing tasks.

It was a very confusing puzzle for the Jedi, feeling those sensations from the Force.

And she knew it was the Force because she also felt a sudden flood of emotions, as if whatever was stopping her from sensing his feelings, whatever barrier he had in place was suddenly down. Those she could easily tell were from him. Aayla found herself marveling at the feelings coursing through him. There was excitement as adrenaline coursed through him. There was lingering humor, no doubt from their previous interaction. There was a sense of distraction that came with any sentient being with a number of feelings.

But there were two overwhelming feelings that Aayla was suddenly hit with. First there was anger, which is what truly surprised her and almost made her miss the second emotion. But the anger wasn't the overwhelming and towering rage she was used to experiencing when she had dealt with the various servants, minions and apprentices of the Sith.

Instead, this anger was almost righteous in its nature, an ever present conviction in his body and mind, yet not driving his decisions or use of the Force. It simply existed underneath his normal Force presence. It wasn't being utilized or focused. Instead it seemed, like his excitement and humor, to be completely compartmentalized. It was held behind a confidence and will of forged steel, tempered and laser honed and now focused and pointed at the enemies below.

But, it was what was behind that pure will that made her almost forget there was a battle going on below, with the lives of thousands of civilians at stake. Hidden, almost deliberately, behind it all was an overwhelming sense of loneliness. But not just loneliness, there was a sense of isolation, of resignation all tied together. It was deep and underlying his entire being.

Aayla thought she had understood the concept of loneliness. It was the path that all Jedi walked. But this was loneliness on a scale she struggled to comprehend. Not just being lonely, or being isolated. It was the sense of being utterly alone in the universe. It was a scale that Aayla not only didn't understand, she just couldn't grasp.

Within it all, she noted one other thing. There was absolutely no fear. Unlike most Jedi she sensed who did not give in to fear or succumb to it. There was a complete and utter absence of fear in Harry Potter.

Aayla was so lost in the sensations that it was only when she saw Harry's right hand leave her waist and brush against her side, and then come around over her shoulder as she snapped back to her surrounding, did she realize that they were much closer to the ground. They were close enough that she could make out masses of individuals below as blaster fire was exchanged in a running battle.

Her attention was drawn as his hand once more moved into her line of sight and she saw him holding a… stick. However, before she could ask she felt a pulse of the Force as Harry's hand moved the stick and she saw _visible_ beams of the Force shoot downward. She watched the beams head down and hit different ships, which were below them, connecting with them one at a time.

Aayla blinked her eyes twice to make sure she wasn't seeing things. The ships hit with the bolts of visible Force energy, which went straight through the limited shields the ships could maintain while in the atmosphere, and changed the ship on the spot. It took her a second to realize what she was seeing.

She was suddenly seeing the inside of the ships. On some, a section of the top armor plating was just… gone. On others the engines seemed to have just disappeared. Or a portion of the bridge was suddenly missing half of its top. Or an atmospheric stabilizing wing suddenly lost all support integrity, and fell off a ship, unbalancing it and causing the rest to tip over.

Of course not every bolt of the Force hit, as she saw one miss a ship and a section of the platform it hit vanished without a trace. There was no debris, melted or buckled hull plating, or stress fractures from an impact. It was simply gone leaving branches or darkness visible beneath it.

The hulls of the ships, most of which were meant to withstand a few direct hits from the turbolasers of capital ships did not fare any better. They had simply vanished into thin air as well.

"Yeah, let's see them enter space when the main bridge is open to the atmosphere," shouted Harry as he whooped in delight before his tone turned musing, "I honestly didn't think my aim would hit those things right away from this distance. I'm kind of out of practice."

Even as he spoke he was looking for any other ships to hit. Seeing none, he looked farther afield and saw a large group of wookiees barricaded behind makeshift debris surrounded by a larger group of trandoshans closing in slowly by virtue of superior numbers. Harry noted that many of the trandoshans were carrying melee weapons, and presumed it was in order to capture more wookiees. He also noted a blue lightsaber among the wookiees furiously deflecting blaster shots.

Harry narrowed his eyes and once more gripped Aayla's hips with two hands, all joking gone. "Hang on."

Aayla felt the Force slow them further, almost to a complete stop in mid-air. Before she could say something about someone noticing them, especially after Harry's light show, and therefore worry they were a target in mid-air. She once more felt the Force grab her and surround her as they disappeared, being sucked through the straw-like sensation once more.

They reappeared a moment later, only this time they were standing on solid ground. Aayla found herself immediately falling to her hands and knees, doing her best not to empty her twin stomachs from the sensation. It was incredibly disorienting and Aayla found it much worse to suddenly be on hard ground again after one of those teleport tricks.

Harry on the other hand had only stumbled a moment before he was moving, his wand was in his hand and an explosive curse hitting the ground behind the Trandoshans even as he regained his balance. The explosive curse hit the street and succeeded in sending several of the lizards flying into the air. Unfortunately, this only stunned the majority of the durable lizard species for a few seconds before they were once again on their feet.

Aayla, for her part, was back on her feet after a moment's disorientation and getting her bearings. Her lightsaber was in her hand and ignited a moment later as she fell into step beside Harry.

Harry was impressed how quickly she was moving and ready after a side along apparition despite the fact that her complexion was nearly green. However he didn't have any time to contemplate it as his explosive curse was a loud announcement of their arrival. It caused some of the Trandoshans to turn their way, though he also noted that there were some humans and one or two other species among the attackers.

But he didn't have time to focus on that since a large number of ones with blasters in their hands had turned their way and started firing at them. Harry had cast a silent protego as he began to move forward toward their attackers.

Aayla had started moving forward to block the blaster bolts with her lightsaber when she stopped and stared at the shield produced by the Force that materialized in front of them. She shook off her shock after only a moment, filing it away for later. She would really need to get at least a small briefing on his style of battle tactics, as surprises like this could be dangerous in combat.

Harry was walking forward slowly, the blasts against his protego giving him time to look around and take stock of the situation. He could see up ahead a little ways, the trandoshans had pinned down what looked like a school or something. They were there at a hollowed out trunk of a tree that stood higher than the others. The wookiees surrounded in the building seemed to have one functioning bowcaster between them.

The woman at the front of the group wielding a lightsaber was still deflecting blaster fire but had taken the distraction provided by them to allow more furniture and other items, mostly wooden, to be moved to help a depleted barricade.

The raiders didn't hesitate, as several charged Harry and Aayla, seeming to believe they were the more vulnerable target. It was a charge Aayla met head on, her lightsaber twirling rapidly, not taking the time to think about how Harry's Force shield did not seem to affect or hinder her even when she or her lightsaber passed through where it had been only a moment ago.

The trandoshans' charge seemed chaotic and frenzied and was far more reckless than most organized military groups would attempt. At least those who had any sort of sense of self-preservation. Trandoshans however were amongst the type of reptiles who had regenerative capabilities far beyond the average galactic citizen. They were even capable of regenerating lost limbs with some regularity.

Of course that didn't stop the removal of their limbs from hurting like a bitch... something proven as cries of anguish filled the air after encounters with Aayla's lightsaber started to divest the lizards of their extremities.

Harry wasn't being overly exotic or creative with his casting. Between shields and cutting curses, and every so often managing to quickly transfigure pieces of debris into tigers of different sizes that would immediately attack the trandoshans. The fur still had traces of the wooden origins, tails were nonexistent and fur was completely brown from the origins of the stuff he had transfigured. They weren't creative or very well animated, and the final result probably wouldn't pass any mastery tests, but they got the job done.

Of course the finer details of the transfigurations were probably lost on the Trandoshans as they were attacked by savage animals.

Aayla eyes widened several times at Harry's abilities, doing things she had never imagined. However she knew now wasn't the time to get distracted so she managed to refocus on the battle at hand. The Jedi whose face she had yet to make out and whose identity she was uncertain of was alternating between helping build the barricade and keeping any opportunistic blaster bolts reflected.

Harry mixed the transfigurations with overpowered stunners at the other targets he happened to catch. They weren't as resistant to stunners as the Trandoshans seemed to be. However, since some people seemed to be just hiding behind cover, Harry was attempting to not just arbitrarily kill people who may just be bystanders.

Still, the Trandoshans, who were very much not bystanders were falling left and right, or both since most of them happened to be in more than one piece.

Aayla and Harry forced their way through toward the structure to join the lightsaber wielder, who had used the respite to help with the fortifications. Harry shifted direction, and was impressed as Aayla moved seamlessly with him, so they were backing into the huddled group. Aayla was trying to get a look at the other Jedi.

Harry however had barely glanced in the direction of the other Jedi as he kept his back to her and shield in front of him. He called out, loud enough for him to be heard over the blasters that were all once more trained in their direction, "Hey Mallie."

Aayla looked at the girl wielding the lightsaber now that she had an opportunity to see her. She had dark hair, which was partially sticking to her forehead from the sweat of her exertions, and was slightly older, though she was a beauty.

"Harry! When did you get back?" demanded Mallie, her breathing heavy and labored.

"About thirty seconds ago," Harry said conversationally, holding the protego up as a constant protection across the stairs and nearly the entire opening of their alcove. He was also giving the exhausted looking woman some respite which she took without complaint.

Aayla had a mystified expression on her face as she looked at the woman. Though her body was still tensed for battle, she too took the respite Harry's force shield gave her. Her mind raced to place the name and face of the woman, and it took several moments before she could pull up a vague recollection of the name though not the face, "Mallie Nissa? You… left the Order when… you became attached to another Jedi and went into exile."

She had never met the former Jedi Knight before, but she had certainly heard the rumors. A Jedi leaving the order of their own volition... was definitely newsworthy. Thought it wasn't as newsworthy as Ahsoka Tano leaving, which was simply because of the public grand spectacle that preceded it and her very public role in the war. Though it was more notable in Aayla's mind because Mallie had left the Order with _another_ Jedi.

"The last name is Marek now, and yes Kento and I married," The woman responded shortly, answering Aayla's thoughts. Her tone contained more than a hint of challenge as she shot the Twi'lek a matching look.

Aayla didn't respond, to Mallie's words, instead responding to a prodding of the Force, she turned to the side to parry some shots that came at them from a raider that had moved around to try and get shots from the side in an area he wasn't shielding in. The instant she parried the final shot Aayla felt a curious lurch in the Force, in a way she hadn't before, and this time it wasn't from Harry.

A similar feeling had been happening often, and only since she had come within close proximity to Harry, but this time it seemed to stem from _her _actions rather than anything Harry or Ahsoka was doing. Aayla made a mental note that she would need to discuss that with Master Yoda when she got a chance.

Harry was mostly ignoring the byplay as he kept the shield up, one of the Trandoshans had now opened fire upon them with some sort of rapid firing blaster gun shaped like a bazooka with multiple barrels and a connection to a nearby starship. The gun was firing far faster than any Jedi would have hoped to deflect and pounded against Harry's shield, and they were already setting up a second one.

Despite his distraction and effort, Harry spoke up, "Speaking of, where are Kento and Galen? They're not caught up in this are they?"

Mallie shook her head quickly as relief filled her voice, "I made Kento take him and flee the instant the ships were spotted. I sense they're fine."

She paused a moment to pick up a piece of debris with levitation and send it hurtling toward a trandoshan who was trying to climb a nearby building for a better shot at them. The debris dislodged the lizard and sent him tumbling to the ground. Despite the impact and blow, he was dazed for only a moment.

Harry just nodded and then jerked slightly as there was the sound of low flying starship over their heads.

He looked up and Mallie quickly reassured him sounding relieved as she commented, "Looks like the planetary defense force has arrived."

"Good they should keep any additional ships I didn't… disable from taking off," Harry said with an amused chuckle. He wished he could see the faces of pilots as they tried to figure out what to do with portions of the ship that were just _gone_. Almost as much as he wished he could watch a ship or two try and take off despite the pieces that were missing.

"It also means reinforcements should be here any time," Mallie added, relief filling her voice.

Harry nodded, he could already see more crossbow blasts being fired in the distance, a clear sign that reinforcements were already moving in to offer relief in the city.

Harry also noticed the trandoshans were getting desperate. They had been unable to revive their comrades that he had been hitting with the stunning spells. Their numbers had steadily decreased as each group had been isolated from the ship they had emerged from, and then further cut off from reinforcing each other in a last stand.

He still had two Trandoshans firing canons at his protego in a last desperate hope to break through even now. He didn't have time to retaliate because he didn't have even a moment that he could drop the shield. He decided against expanding the shields to the sides, as they were covered by Jedi, and he didn't want to risk weakening it for even a second.

Mallie was breathing heavily, even raggedly, though she moved to deflect bolts that came in from the side she was guarding without pause. Harry thought she was clearly out of practice, though he was forced to remind himself he had no idea how long she had been holding back a concentrated assault. However long it was, it had clearly taken its toll.

Aayla was even busier on her side going full out with two lightsabers now to keep up with the focused fire of five individual blasters coming at her, though it was far more scattered and coming in waves.

A last ditch charge erupted from the last half dozen Trandoshans in their area who were now attacking Aayla's position. They had forsaken their blasters, and now charged blindly with electrical pikes that had grown in popularity during this war. None were as proficient with them as Aayla was with her lightsaber, and all were quickly dismembered.

Over the din of the firefight, Harry heard a clanging sound, almost as if something were bouncing towards them. His head turned to follow the noise, just as he heard a cry from Mallie, and a gasp from Aayla even as she was parrying a new round of blaster bolts.

He quickly saw exactly what had caught their attention: a thermal detonator beeping the final counts to explosion that had landed at Aayla's feet.

Time froze.

Harry could see the trandoshan that tossed it had been pressing close in from Mallie's position. He could see the look of fear and resignation that was on Aayla's face in that instant. She was still parrying bolts and bodies around her were hindering her movements. She had no options, she knew she was as good as dead.

On instinct, Harry used a wandless summoning charm to pull the detonator away from her while simultaneously casting a second shield trying to wrap the detonator up. The detonator shot away from her and towards him and the shield was in the process of going up but that was all the time it had as the detonator exploded and Harry's world was engulfed in an abrupt concussive bang of fire and plasma.

Aayla flinched for a moment and then found herself surprised that the explosion was limited to sound only. A thermal detonator that close to them should have taken out all three of them. Instead the explosion seemed contained around Harry.

Aayla only saw the result out of the corner of her eye as she was still in place, her hands moving rapidly so that her lightsabers could continue to keep up with the few blaster bolts directed upon their position.

When the smoke cleared, she gasped. Harry was on his knees, though the side of his body closest to her and the explosion was a wreck. She could see where his left arm was just gone below the shoulder. The entire left side of his face and body was black and looked charred though she could see the bone of his cheek and jaw were visible. Despite this his right hand still held his stick and he was somehow holding the shield up as the canons still churned.

"Harry!" Aayla called out futilely. She could tell from experience that survival would almost certainly require a bacta dip immediately, and he'd be using an android arm for the rest of his life. But she couldn't just abandon her side where Trandoshans still made forays forward.

The next minute or two seemed to drag on for eternity, though she managed to keep her focus long enough to deflect several bolts aimed directly at Harry. The slavers were not stupid and though they may not understand the cause of the shield, they clearly realized that it was being generated by Harry. So, the assaults from the side focused on him.

Aayla had never been as relieved in her life as she was to see the number of wookiee reinforcements that seemed to pour into the area en masse, overwhelming the Trandoshans. She also saw more ships appear overhead, including the distinctive (obnoxious) red and gold colors of the _Gryffindor_, which told her that Ahsoka was back.

The trandoshans stopped firing on the two Jedi in short order, but before the Jedi could retaliate the groups were overwhelmed by wookiees. She knew it was unlikely that any trandoshans would escape Wookiee justice on this day. Also aware by the way they were storming the ships that those would be in wookiee possession sooner rather than later.

All of that was secondary as Aayla rushed to Harry with an expression of shock, wondering how it was possible he was still conscious, much less still channeling the Force into a physical shield.

Harry wasn't aware of any of this. He had four thoughts running through his head. One: keep the _protego_ up until it wasn't needed. Two: He shouldn't have screwed around so long, especially with a mediocre wand. Three: A thermal detonator exploding at close range was _really_ loud. Four: It also was quite painful.

Once he felt the impacts on the _protego_ stop for more than a few seconds he let his right arm, now his only arm, drop to his side, wand still in his hand, though the wand was barely a stump that was blackened and charred. He toppled to the side, only for Aayla to be there to grab his shoulder and pull him a little in the other direction so he didn't fall on his injured side. She pulled him to rest against her so she could support his head.

"Oh sithspit! Harry, I'm sorry!" Mallie was saying as she moved over to him too.

"Hang on Harry, we'll get you a medic!" Aayla said her eyes glaring momentarily at Mallie before turning back to Harry. Her voice was bleak as she looked around. Wookiees were moving among the area moving rubble and attending to injured wookiees, including many young ones.

The back of Harry's head was resting against Aayla's chest as she supported him. Aayla's eyes widened in surprise. The sense of Force power inside of him was still the same, as if he hadn't just done the impossible by shielding against all the blaster bolts. She was once more picking up emotions from him, only this time it... was _amusement?_

She wondered if he was delirious, or fading. Mallie for her part was attempting to bandage his side and flinched at how injured he was.

Harry coughed, and she could see blood in his mouth, of course she could also see his jawbone so blood wasn't exactly a surprise.

Harry was shaking slightly as he rasped out, "Dobby."

There was only a momentary pause and then Dobby appeared next to him. Dobby took one look at Harry and scowled, "Master Harry ruined another set of clothes. Dobby is not being repairing that!"

Aayla blinked, Dobby's tone was _scolding _Harry about his clothes while he lay there mortally wounded. Not for the first time Aayla wondered if the little creature wasn't able to grasp reality enough to know how serious this situation truly was. Mallie's expression showed the same expression.

Harry held up his good hand, one finger up, his voice slurred slightly as he spoke in a raspy tone, "Dobby, send me home in just a second… for my own health."

Dobby nodded instantly, "Yes, Master Harry!"

Aayla scowled, she knew the ship didn't have medical facilities, "Dobby, he is hurt, he needs to see doctors…" she trailed off wondering what doctors could do for him.

Aayla blinked and realized that maybe Dobby could get him to a bacta tank if there was an available one anywhere nearby. Before she could say something, Harry's cough caught her attention. He looked up at her with a grin, one that was marred by half of his face being burnt and bones protruding from his skin.

"Best… pillows… ever," He said before his head shifted to the side slightly to look at where his head had been resting against her chest.

Aayla's mouth dropped open, but before she could formulate a response Harry lowered his finger.

Dobby, easily recognizing his cue, snapped his fingers and Aayla found herself holding thin air. She immediately turned and demanded of the little being, "Dobby? Where did he go? Bring him back here! He needs a doctor!"

"Master Harry's be fine," Dobby said as he shook his head emphatically.

Mallie grimaced and spoke up, "Are you sure?"

Dobby nodded, showing surprising awareness, "Master Harry just be's making sure that Miss Blue Lady not want to hurt him mores for comments. And unhappy that his favorite jacket be ruined."

Aayla opened her mouth to protest, Mallie looked stunned as well. "Dobby, did you take him to a bacta dip?"

Dobby shook his head "Master Harry's be fine" he repeated before he disappeared with a pop. Aayla still wanted to protest but Mallie gestured, recognizing the futility of arguing with thin air, "We should see about helping with the injured, and making sure none of the trandoshans escape."

Aayla hesitated and then slumped slightly. She couldn't really argue and Dobby was gone. She also couldn't help but realize he had saved her life. She was genuinely worried about him. She wondered how many weeks of recovery he'd have even if Dobby had sent him to a bacta tank. She couldn't even recall their ship having a bacta tank. She couldn't do anything about it, and faced with the prospect of standing around and doing nothing, she moved to begin helping with the cleanup.

The wookiees were an odd combination of relieved and enraged. Once it became known that none of the ships had escaped there had been a brief celebration of howls from the wookiees in the area. However all the Trandoshans and other slavers still alive were being taken prisoner in none too gently of a manner. Some of the ships that were already grounded were searched and more slaves from off world were discovered inside. Those added to the number that Ahsoka had brought out of the _Gryffindor _to join them.

When Aayla related to Ahsoka what happened, she was somewhat relieved to find that the Togrutan was just as worried as she was.

Ahsoka did say one thing to ease her mind, "Aayla, his people have some very impressive stuff. I'm not sure I'd count Harry out just yet."

Ahsoka had headed back into the ship and checked to see if Harry was inside in a bacta tank somewhere, only to come back sometime later, having scoured the entire ship and report negatively. Despite her reassuring words the girl seemed worried too.

Aayla, shocked over her near death experience and how Harry had saved her life without a second thought, turned her already frazzled attention to the former Jedi next to her. The exiled Jedi who no one could account for during nearly the last two years. She couldn't help the first words blurted out to the woman were the sort of obvious statement that she would have rolled her eyes at others for, "So… you know Harry?"

Mallie's voice was even and neutral, not sounding offended, though also not sounding eager about having the conversation, "Yes, I know him. We sort of ran into each other and, after helping my husband and I; he suggested Kashyyyk as a refuge. He helped us hide on this world, so no one could sense us in the Force."

"You're hiding?" Aayla echoed with a perplexed countenance.

Mallie nodded, "Kento and I are in exile and were hunted until we settled here. There are lots of people out there who aren't a fan of Jedi and who won't hesitate to kill, or to use us for their own ends, hoping for their own pocket Jedi to aid them in committing crimes. Without the protection of the Order, whatever that's worth, we had to hide someplace."

"You chose to leave the Order," Aayla frowned, unable to keep the disapproval from her voice.

"The two of us chose to leave rather than be expelled, for following our hearts," Mallie responded firmly with a trace of resentment in her voice.

Aayla furrowed her brow and didn't know how to respond to that statement. She herself had almost been guilty of the same thing, as word of her infatuation with Jedi Master Kit Fisto had spread much further than she had been comfortable with before he had purposefully placed distance between the two of them despite Aayla's protests.

"If you left the Order what were you doing here?" Aayla asked gesturing around at the carnage around them, carnage that the wookiees already were working to clean up.

Mallie's look was scornful, and her voice held a clear reprimand, "I may have left the Order, but the Order doesn't have a monopoly on helping people, despite what they might think. I may have given up that life for a simpler one, but I will not stand by and suffer innocents to be enslaved. Besides the wookiees have been incredibly helpful to Kento and me. My lightsaber skills may be rusty, but I would be doing them a disservice if I abandoned them when they needed me."

Mallie looked around and shook her head, "Now if you'll excuse me. I believe I will check to see what remains of our house..."

Aayla watched the former Jedi leave without another word. She was still watching the woman walk away when she was struck by a sudden bolt of insight about the odd lurches she'd received from the Force. The Jedi moving away from here was not supposed to be. Flashes from the Force showed a familiar body lying a few feet over, shot from the back. But, that wasn't what happened. Harry and her intervention had changed things.

She knew after a few moments of wide-eyed thought that Mallie Marek was not supposed to have survived this battle. Aayla wasn't sure how she knew, but the part of her she trusted to the Force to guide her movements to block blaster bolts, was sure that Mallie would not have survived that fight without her intervention.

Aayla shook her head slowly, thoughts running through her head. Was there a path things were supposed to go? If so, how could it 'shift' so visibly as to be felt? To top it all off, why was it this sort of interference was only happening while in proximity to Harry?

Bizarrely, If Aayla had any way to actually describe it, she felt the Force was _pleased._

Aayla looked down at herself and grimaced. She realized she really needed to use a refresher station. She was covered in grime and dirt and a good deal of Harry's blood from where she had caught him. She froze when she looked down at his blood and then reached for a device on her belt.

She hesitated for only a moment, questioning the ethics of what she was about to do, before she took a sample of Harry's blood and entered it into the device. Having no other option at the moment she headed back into the Gryffindor.

Ahsoka was walking around the ship once more while looking for either Dobby or Harry and having no success. Aayla sighed and shook her head when she saw Ahsoka look at her, the obvious question plain on her face.

Aayla turned and headed up to the cockpit, hearing Ahsoka fall into step behind her. She passed the pilot's chair where the owl was back in her normal perch. Hedwig didn't acknowledge them. Instead she stared out the front of the cockpit.

Aayla turned her head as she slumped into a chair, "Ahsoka, you didn't say how your part of the mission went?" She phrased it more like a question than a statement.

Ahsoka shrugged a little bit. She wasn't as tired as Aayla but she was definitely worried about Harry. She gestured around at the cockpit, "This ship may not be glamorous but it isn't a pushover either. I gave chase to the other ship, caught up to it and fired at it from above. The guns on this ship aren't bad, but their shields held over the engines, and I couldn't go all out or risk hurting any of the wookiees aboard."

"So how did you stop it then?" Aayla asked with a puzzled look.

"I took what Harry said he did to the ship to heart and simply moved the Gryffindor over the other ship, and wouldn't let it gain altitude," Ahsoka replied with a grin. "I engaged the docking clamps as they tried to push upward against the ship, but their armor buckled, the armor on this ship didn't. Before they could try anything else, some other planetary defense ships arrived to help."

"They got a tractor beam lock onto the other ship and dragged it to a stop. Not that the tractor beams had to do much, by then the engines on their ship had pretty much burnt out trying to press against whatever Harry's got in this ship," Ahsoka said with a shrug, "The wookiees told me they'd handle it so I turned back to help you just as Dobby popped back and asked if I needed help."

Aayla raised an eyebrow, "What about the ship he went after?"

"I gather that it's parked in orbit right now. I heard some chatter on the comm that the wookiees sent to investigate were… amused? Though I didn't catch why," Ahsoka said as she shook her head slightly and shrugged a bit at her lack of knowledge.

Aayla shook her head slightly, she was almost afraid to ask after the being 'fought' the smugglers on Nar Shaddaa by knocking them out and stripping them. There was silence for a few moments before Ahsoka spoke up and asked quietly, "Are you going to report this to the Jedi Council?"

Aayla hesitated and then nodded, "Yeah, they should know about this… though, I think I'm going to leave the report deliberately vague."

"What he said about the Sith knowing what's happening…having an ear in the Council, you think he's right?" Ahsoka asked, her voice very quiet. The possibility had been something that had been bothering her since Harry had mentioned it, and even now, she worried merely giving voice to it would make it more real.

"I'm... not sure," Aayla stated with a sigh and rubbed her fingers over her eyes, she desperately didn't want to think so. But the words had a ring of truth to them. She didn't think that anyone on the Council would serve the Sith Lord. Although she wondered if someone was doing it unknowingly and had no idea who they were reporting to.

"I don't know, but I'm going to act cautiously," she reiterated as she keyed up the hyper comm unit, once more impressed at how quickly she got a connection. It took a minute or so before the comm was picked up on the other end.

"Master Secura, surprise this is. Expect to hear from you so soon, I did not," Yoda's voice spoke evenly as an image of the Council Chambers coalesced above the unit. She noticed that the room was nearly empty, with only Master Yoda and Master Kenobi present in the chamber.

Aayla nodded her head in acknowledgement, "Master Yoda, I wanted to make the Council aware of something that just occurred."

"Not present many Council members are, however felt disturbance in the Force Master Shaak Ti, Master Kenobi and myself have," Master Yoda replied.

Kenobi spoke up, "I'm here and Shaak Ti is here remotely, we were just discussing what we felt."

Aayla pressed a few buttons on the console to bring up her image in miniature as she resolved a three way connection between them. Shaak Ti's image resolved itself to show her head and torso. The background appeared cramped and it appeared obvious that she was in the cockpit of a Jedi fighter. She was clearly in transit somewhere.

Aayla and Ahsoka exchanged a glance, before Aayla spoke up, "Full disclosure, I have Ahsoka Tano sitting here with me. Should I ask her to leave so we can discuss it?"

There was only a slight pause on the transmission before Master Yoda spoke, "Stay she may. Insight Padawan Tano may provide."

"Former padawan," Ahsoka spoke up immediately but insistently. She didn't want there to be any misunderstanding about her leaving the Order, and didn't want old habits to lull her into a sense of security given the change in circumstances.

"Apologize, I do," Yoda responded contritely and corrected himself, "Former Padawan Tano."

Aayla and Ahsoka exchanged another look before Ahsoka nodded slowly. She was still cautious around the Jedi Council, but if nothing else Yoda seemed apologetic.

"Master Yoda, before I give my report, may I ask what it was you felt?" Aayla asked curiously.

Yoda rubbed his chin slowly, "Mmm. Hard to describe. In a meditative trance I was not. Felt echo only, I did."

Shaak Ti spoke up, her voice was soft but decisive, "I was deep in meditation at the time. It felt like… amongst many threads of change that suddenly occurred, someone who was strong in the Force's life course was altered. Because of this, the lives of three people were immediately changed, and uncounted more shifted in response. It was like watching ripples in an uneven pool after a single stone had been tossed in. All the while, the Force was… content?"

"A long-set but unforeseen future changed has been," murmured Yoda, his eyes closed in concentration.

There was only the briefest hesitation while Aayla recalled the battle. She remembered what she felt when she had saved Mallie's life, the certainty that Mallie should have died there. She spoke up after a few moments of silence, "I believe I know exactly what caused it, and will highlight that specific event during my report."

Yoda's eyes opened to regard her with intense interest, "Interested we are."

"We arrived at Kashyyyk a few hours ago. Harry's goal was to turn over the slavers and slaves he had captured and liberated respectively, on Nar Shaddaa to the Wookiees. His reason for coming here seemed mainly because they'll receive much harsher penalties here, and the wookiees will aid the slaves in starting new lives," Aayla summarized quickly.

"What sort of reward was he hoping for?" asked Obi-Wan dryly.

"Harry didn't do it for a reward," Ahsoka interjected forcefully, defending Harry, "I asked him why and he said it was the right thing to do."

"Very generous of him," commented Shaak Ti softly, her voice soothing.

Aayla noted that Ahsoka didn't seem at all soothed by the other Togrutan Jedi Master's presence, much less her words. She shot the girl a questioning look. But Ahsoka merely shook her head slightly in response, clearly not wanting to discuss it. Aayla hesitated briefly before letting the topic drop for the moment, once more focusing on the holocall.

Master Kenobi saw the interaction and it drew a raised brow from him and he wondered exactly what the issue was, but filed it away for later if necessary. It wasn't really the most important matter at hand at the moment, but the fact Ahsoka apparently had a problem with Master Shaak Ti would need to be remembered for later.

"As we arrived in orbit, and headed down one of the established vectors to the capital, we found it strange that we received no challenge on our approach by traffic controllers. We shortly discovered the reason why. Nearly a dozen trandoshan slave runners had blanketed most of the holocom spectrum and were in the middle of a slave run," Aayla allowed disgust for the events to fill her tone as she spoke.

"A slave run on Kashyyyk in the middle of this war?" Obi-Wan asked, more than a little disbelief in his voice, "They must have been either desperate or assured of their success to risk such a venture."

Aayla nodded, "They appeared to be two steps ahead of the planetary defense's response. Two of the ships were departing as we arrived. One of them was taken down by former Padawan Tano. I learned the other was stopped too, while Harry and I transferred down to the surface to assist."

"None of the remaining ships managed to leave the ground as the two of us joined the pitched battle against the Trandoshans on the ground," Aayla explained as she continued to make her report factual without revealing anything that Harry had actually done with his abilities, "We met up and joined forces with a former Jedi, Mallie Nissa. Though she is now going by the name Mallie Marek, as she married another former Jedi, Kento Marek."

"Kento… I haven't heard from him since he left the Order a few years ago…" Obi-Wan commented as he recalled his interactions with the former Jedi, "He and I were sparring partners on occasion when I was still Qui-Gon's padawan. He was powerful, if undisciplined. I remember being quite surprised when he left. He always enjoyed adventure and excitement, and then he just walked away with Mallie one day. They renounced the Order and went into exile and disappeared."

"Well, I haven't seen Kento, but like I said, we met up with Mallie while defending a large group of Wookiee civilians," Aayla replied. "As the planetary defense forces arrived, and their security forces swarmed the area, the trandoshans went from trying to escape, to actively taking out as many of us as they could before they were killed or captured."

"During a lull in the fighting, I stopped several blaster bolts from hitting Mallie from behind. When I stopped one particular shot that was intended for Mallie, I felt that peculiar lurch in the Force that you all did. Mallie Marek had been on a path to die and we changed that path, and I believe that caused the change in the Force you felt," Aayla said, conveying the sense she got from the Force during the battle. "Some other event in the future must've been tied to her death and those echoes and shifting disturbances were the result."

Silence descended on the holocom call while the others pondered that, so Aayla decided to deliver the rest of her report, "The fight ultimately concluded with a group of Trandoshans rushing the area that Mallie and I defended. We defeated them all, but not before one of them armed and dropped a short-fused thermal detonator at our feet."

There was an indrawn breath from both Shaak Ti and Kenobi.

"I honestly thought that was it. I couldn't focus on that while deflecting the blasters. I couldn't throw it away quickly enough with the Force to not cause damage, and even if I had more than a second, there was no way to toss it anywhere nearby so that it wouldn't hit allies or civilians," Aayla kept her voice even and factual as she reported what happened.

"That was when Harry summoned the detonator to himself, encased it in some shield made of the living Force, then blocked us from the impact with another shield. Unfortunately that left him close to the blast," Aayla stated, her voice getting a bit strained as she spoke.

She paused a moment and shook her head, "Harry was injured, quite gravely in ensuing explosion."

"Do you need a Jedi Healer?" Shaak Ti asked immediately. She knew if the man was dead Aayla would have said it, if somewhat circumspectly.

"I… don't know," Aayla responded hesitantly.

"What do you mean?" Obi-Wan asked.

Aayla dithered over how much to say before stating somewhat reluctantly, "I'm currently unaware of where he was taken for treatment."

"The wookiees won't tell you where they took him?" Obi-Wan inquired in surprise. The residents of Kashyyyk were on relatively good terms with most Jedi, though some like Aayla and Yoda seemed to have better relations than others.

"No, he… disappeared in the chaos. I was not expecting it given how grave his injuries were," Aayla replied honestly.

"I think I would have felt it in the Force if he died," Ahsoka said quietly, remembering her bonds and her contract to him. She felt that she would have felt _something_ if he had died.

Aayla nodded in agreement, "I think I would have felt something too, so he is still alive. I'm just not sure where he was taken for treatment."

"After I lost sight of him, I stayed and assisted with the cleanup, before I rejoined former Padawan Tano aboard his ship," Aayla stated, bringing her report to a clear end.

"And no further information you have on former Jedi Mallie or Kento?" Yoda asked curiously after several long moments of consideration.

"No, she left to return to her home after we helped with some of the cleanup. She made it clear that I was not invited, and I chose not to push the issue. Especially not after she was helping out the Wookiees... not to mention she and Harry apparently already knew one another," Aayla summed up, though she made it clear by her tone that she didn't quite know how they might have known one another.

"Pursue her for information, we shall not for now," said Yoda after a moment. "Always available that route is now if needed. Cooperate with us especially after her life saved you have." He trailed off closing his eyes once more as if concentrating on something. Silence descended on the connection as he did.

Taking advantage of the silence, Obi-Wan took the opportunity to speak up, his voice filled with concern, "Ahsoka, how are you doing? Aayla has told us all about the bounties placed on you. Are you okay?"

"It's… a little jarring and intimidating for it to seem like half of the galaxy's bounty hunters are after you," Ahsoka said after a pause to consider the question, "But I sort of like the way Harry put it. 'It doesn't matter how many people you piss off. If you're not pissing people off it means you aren't thinking or aren't acting. You're just following the crowd. Only people who _think_ ever manage to take stands on what they believe is right or wrong. Otherwise you're just supporting what someone else thinks is right or wrong. And people never like when other people think, so that's why they want you dead.'"

Ahsoka glanced up after her comment to see Aayla and all three people in holo looking at her intently. She shrugged slightly under the combined gazes, "It makes sense to me."

"Interesting point of view," commented Obi-Wan dryly.

He was both surprised, and a little worried, at how quickly Ahsoka seemed to be taking Harry's viewpoints and beliefs to heart. While he was well aware that Ahsoka's feelings toward the Order were less than charitable at the moment, he was also very aware of just how stubborn Anakin's former Padawan was. She wouldn't just change her mind on something because of fancy words.

That left him in somewhat of a quandary, with one of three options. It was possible that this Harry was manipulating her mind. That was his first suspicion until Aayla mentioned Harry saving her life and the slaves. That made Obi-Wan's suspicions ease a little bit, rescuing slaves was hardly the act of someone who was likely to be mentally manipulative.

The second option was that Harry was potentially very capable of influencing people, and was taking advantage of Ahsoka's vulnerability. However, he knew Ahsoka Tano's stubbornness better than most. She wasn't going to be swayed from her convictions with a few fancy words. While she may be upset with the Jedi Order at the moment her seeming belief and faith in Harry wasn't something that would have come with a few conversations.

"Harry seems to have quite a few of those," Aayla said wryly with a shake of her head, "Ahsoka seems fine to me. Harry's managed to keep her safe, and I think she enjoys discovering new things about the ship all the time. Then again I get the feeling Skywalker would be right at home looking into the enhancements that have been done to this… unique vessel."

Ahsoka furrowed her brow at being spoken of like she wasn't there or couldn't speak for herself, but decided to let the moment pass. She did allow a rueful smile to grow on her face, as if she was imagining Skywalker doing just that if he ever got to this ship.

Yoda's musing voice broke into the discussion, "More and more of a mystery are the actions of your companion, Harry. And now, a second vergence in the Force so quickly."

"Vision you had I have been meditating on," Yoda spoke slowly, "Clear it is, this Harry more important than we imagined, he may be."

Aayla didn't stop a look of relief that crossed her face. She was glad that Yoda seemed to be taking her vision as seriously as she felt it merited. Worries had been to plague her about whether some of the other Masters may have discounted it or attributed it to her empathic nature. She waited patiently, easily able to tell that Yoda was still considering something.

"Perhaps Jedi healer we send to you, hmm?" The little green Jedi said after nearly a minute of silent deliberation.

"You will not send Luminara and her..._apprentice_ to heal him," Shaak Ti stated immediately and emphatically.

Aayla stiffened at the mere idea of Barriss being anywhere near Ahsoka, let alone Harry. Ahsoka herself gripped the arms of her chair tightly at the thought of Barriss' presence.

Yoda looked crestfallen at the reminder of the hardline dissension that remained because of the reinstatement of Barriss. She couldn't tell though whether the look was due to the reminder that the Jedi had fallen so far, or that it was his actual intention to send them and Shaak Ti had shot it down so quickly. Aayla was more than willing to admit that Barriss was a good healer. But that was no excuse for the murders and betrayals she had committed in Aayla's eyes.

Obi-Wan spoke up as if reading Aayla's mind, "While Barriss Offee is still one of our best healers, I think it would be a poor decision to send her on any missions for the foreseeable future, at least until we're more certain of her behavior since she apparently is not to be punished for her crimes.."

Shaak Ti spoke up after a brief pause, "I concur, if anything, I will go and offer my services."

"You, Master Ti?" Obi-Wan asked, sounding more than a little surprised.

"I may have focused primarily upon the consular path, but I have kept abreast of my healing studies. Especially in a time of war such as now when they would be just as useful as my combat skills," Shaak Ti said solemnly. "Furthermore, I am the ideal choice as I am currently without assignment and am only two systems from Kashyyyk. The journey will be a matter of hours for me."

Obi-wan fell quiet as he considered that. Yoda however was regarding the other Jedi Master with an intensely scrutinizing look. It was as if he knew that there was more that the Jedi Master wasn't saying.

Aayla and Ahsoka exchanged a look of their own, wondering why a Jedi Master just happened to be stationed so close to Kashyyyk, unless she had planned to come pick Aayla up after she arrived. Jedi were rarely, if ever, used for simple transport or courier missions.

Shaak Ti was quiet and met the gaze steadily through the transmission before she bowed her head slightly, "I must also confess, when I felt the Force, I felt… the ripples from the change in the Force and am certain those ripples somehow affected me. Not now… but my future somehow was changed.

There was a lengthy pause as Yoda continued to stare at her hologram after her admission. Aayla also regarded the other Jedi Master with a curious expression on her face.

"And I admit I am feeling drawn. Though I could not explain how, I would like to know why. It was more direction than I have gotten from the Force in quite some time. And it all seems to be focused around this one individual," The Jedi Master said quietly but firmly enough that it was obvious she was certain of her feelings and what she sensed.

"I think we could all agree to that," stated Aayla wryly, and she felt Ahsoka nod alongside her, "I'm not sure you coming out here won't be useless. As I said, I don't know where Harry is at the moment, so a Jedi healer wouldn't be much use."

"Even if he were here, I'm not sure Harry would accept help from the Jedi Order… he's not the Order's biggest fan," Ahsoka interjected and then her voice dropped and she muttered under her breath, "not that I can blame him."

"Know if a Jedi Healer can help, I do not," Yoda spoke slowly, without opening his eyes, "Go to Kashyyyk, Master Shaak Ti will. Accept her help he may not. However, assistance to Wookiees a Jedi Master's presence the Council will offer. Good relationship we have. Good relationship we should keep."

"As I said, I'm not far. It should only take me a few hours to get there," Shaak Ti added, "Expect me there in no more than a day."

"Meet up with Master Secura you should," Yoda spoke quietly, "Decisions on what to do after, leave up to your discretion I shall."

Master Shaak Ti nodded slightly before her image disappeared from the call, signaling termination of the signal from her end.

"Master Yoda, do my instructions remain the same?" Aayla asked uncertainly.

"Follow the guidance of the Force, continue you should," Yoda replied evenly, "Already your presence impact it has had, on other former Jedi, on Wookiees. Folly to ignore it would be the guidance of the Force when felt ripples already are."

Yoda looked at Obi-Wan, making it clear the conversation was at an end. "May the Force be with you," Obi-Wan said before Yoda disconnected the call.

"Well, I certainly wasn't expecting that," said Ahsoka dryly after the green glow of the holocall went out. She was surprised at the change in tune regarding Harry, though perhaps it was only because that meeting had only three Council members rather than a whole group.

"I did not foresee this occurring either," responded Aayla.

She was surprised at the freedom Yoda seemed to be granting her to pursue these leads and wondered if perhaps he too was seeing something in the Force that was guiding his decisions.

She looked at Ahsoka with a frown of concern, "If we find him, do you think he'll accept aid from Master Ti?"

"He may or may not. Hopefully his own people's medicine is as capable as he's shown. I mean he did heal someone from a blaster bolt in the chest," Ahsoka replied, trying to keep her tone upbeat. She was genuinely worried about Harry though, and she couldn't help worrying about what might happen if he was hurt really badly, or even killed; what might happen to her.

"The pain he was in must have been unbelievable," Aayla said with a shake of her head, as she remembered how gravely he had been injured, left arm and a good deal of his side gone, as well as part of his face burnt.

"And yet he apparently still had the presence of mind to flirt with you and comment on your chest?" Ahsoka said, unable to stop the snicker that escaped her, she found that as funny now as she did when she had first been told. For some reason, she found that most reassuring about the whole situation. If Harry was okay enough to joke around then it was more likely that he was going to be okay.

"His perversions know no limits," said Aayla grumpily as she crossed her arms over her chest.

After a few seconds under Ahsoka's amused gaze she blinked, as a thought occurred to her. She reached into one of the pouches on her belt and pulled out the reader she had used to take some of Harry's blood from herself.

Aayla turned to the computer and pulled up scanning program. She was relieved to find that this ship was like standard ships and had an acceptable biological analysis reader. Most ships did as much for safety and testing of chemicals and environs, and this ship was no exception.

Ahsoka looked over at her with interest, "What are you doing?"

Aayla held up the small device before she proceeded to connect it to the computer, "I took some of Harry's blood off of me, and want to get a midichlorian count."

Ahsoka shook her head slightly. She was well aware of the obsession with those readings some Jedi had. She knew enough to know that hers had always been rather high. She wasn't in the same class of strength as her old master or Yoda, but she wasn't too far below them either. She was one of the highest of any of the younglings in her group. She remembered that, but beyond that little fact she never had much purpose for the whole issue. Still she was well aware how competitive some Jedi could be around the entire concept.

And when it came to Harry she couldn't deny some of that old curiosity she thought she was past came back.

Aayla plugged the machine into the computer. She waited a moments until the results popped up on the screen. Curiosity got the best of Ahsoka as she tried to see the results without making it too obvious that she was peeking.

Aayla's curious and intent expression turned into a look of pure confusion, "What the…"

That was more than enough to get Ahsoka's attention and cause her to give up the veneer of apathy as she looked at Aayla, "What is it?"

"This… scanner must be broken," Aayla said with a resigned expression, as she punched a button to rescan the sample.

She growled in frustration when it beeped a minute later and displayed the same results. That was enough to break past Ahsoka's politeness. Forgoing all appearances, she leaned over to peer at the monitor eagerly.

She leaned forward to get a look at the readout, "Huh…"

Age error

Sex: Male

Species: error

Midichlorian Count: error

"It can't even tell what species he is?" Ahsoka asked, more than a little surprised. Unless the program was incredibly basic and full of errors, it should have been able to provide that sort of information off of a blood sample.

Aayla sighed and slumped back with a look of defeat and frustration as she cleared the results and disconnected her reader, "It must be a corrupted sample, and so it's useless."

"What's useless?" came a familiar and amused voice from behind them.

Both women spun around in their chairs in shock.

Harry was standing there. He had a curious look that was ruined by the small grin on his face

Aayla's jaw was nearly unhinged as she stared at him. Despite all of his injuries, injuries she had seen and verified for herself, he was standing there in dark pants and a black short sleeve shirt looking absolutely none the worse for the wear.

Ahsoka looked him up and down, before covering a blush with a grin of her own. She hadn't seen the injuries in person so the visceral impact was less severe to her. But she had also seen evidence of his healing ability, so she had been more confident in his ability to recover even if she wasn't sure he could use it on himself.

Aayla blinked several times and stood up slowly, taking several steps forward. She reached out hesitantly to poke his left arm, the same arm that was disintegrated by the explosion. Not injured, not damaged, the arm itself was gone completely. She poked up and down his arm several times, an action which seemed to amuse him more than anything. She also noted that he was once more completely blank to her in the Force, she couldn't sense his Force presence, and she couldn't sense a single emotion.

"I saw how bad you were injured… how… is this possible?" She asked, disbelief in her voice.

This was far more surreal than what she saw in the cargo hold. She had seen injuries and mortal wounds first-hand for years, and the idea that someone could recover from injuries of such severity, especially so quickly, blew all rational thought from her mind.

Harry tilted his head and an amused look crossed his face as he looked past Aayla to Ahsoka. Her grin matched his and they both spoke in unison, "Magic."

Aayla blinked and then rolled her eyes in exasperation, before her eyes flicked to his face, her eyes tracing the skin where she had been able to see jawbone, only now she saw unblemished skin. She continued to poke his arm in disbelief, still trying to verify for certain that he was there and seemingly whole.

Harry glanced down at her hand, "You should know. I consider turnabout fair play. You keep poking me, I'll return the favor and poke you. Only I prefer to do my poking naked, and preferably in a bed. An audience is kinda kinky though."

He made his comment with a deliberate look at Ahsoka who immediately started to snicker, "It's like SkyGuy's here, but with actual adult humor rather than his and Obi-Wan's potty humor," said Ahsoka as she laughed a bit more.

Aayla pulled back her hand as if scalded. She huffed slightly and refused to be drawn into their back and forth, "Your _arm_ was gone! Completely! I saw it, err… it wasn't there!"

Harry looked down at his left arm and then an even more amused grin crossed his face, one that showed true amusement, "I've had worse."

Judging by her face, Aayla didn't know what to say to that, but Harry didn't seem to be paying attention, he just started to snicker, "I have _always _wanted to say that, especially to people who didn't expect it!"

Finally, Harry turned away from taunting Aayla, and spoke to Ahsoka, "So has Good triumphed over Evil? Did all the nerf's get properly barbecued and served with a side of coleslaw? Did the-" his rant was ended by Aayla punching his newly regrown arm. Ahsoka almost imagined that he was likely on some sort of sugar high from whatever he'd done to regrow his arm.

"Hey stop that, it's tender. You should kiss it and make it better now," Harry said as he affected a wounded expression as he cradled his arm.

"Arrrghhh," she yelled in frustration, before she stomped out of the cockpit.

He watched her go, deliberately staring at her ass while she left, then turned to Ahsoka, "Too much?"

She paused a moment to consider the question before she shook her head, though there was a smile on her face. She quite enjoyed seeing a Jedi Master get so riled up from someone who seemed to have no fear of doing so. However after a small giggle her expression turned serious, and spoke with concern filling her voice. "Are you… okay?"

Harry opened his mouth with a grin and then hesitated, seeing the genuine concern reflected on Ahsoka's face.

He smiled a small smile, without some of the humor he usually used and nodded a bit, "I won't attempt to lie and say it was the most pleasant of experiences, but I really have had worse. I'm okay. I promise."

Ahsoka nodded a little bit looking relieved and then grinned impishly, "That's good _Master_. At least that way when Master Secura finally snaps and slices off an arm you'll have had experience to handle it. Though… an arm might not be the appendage she aims for."

Harry smiled at the easy banter in the girl's voice. Then the humor slid off his face as he sighed a bit and seem to brace himself. He stepped into the cockpit fully and moved around to the pilot's chair though he didn't sit down, instead focusing on the owl who had been facing the view port. However once he came around the owl turned her back on him with a shuffle of her feathers.

"I'm sorry, Hedwig." Harry said softly, though the owl pointedly ignored his advances. He reached out to stroke her feathers and she nipped at his finger. His voice was soothing, "You know how things just happen sometimes."

Ahsoka was watching with interest. He seemed genuinely worried about the bird and her current mood toward him.

"What can I do to make it up to you?" Harry was talking softly to her, his voice gentle and coaxing, but the white bird seemed to be having none of it.

Finally she turned and glared at him with a baleful stare and barked at him several times in quick succession. Harry winced slightly and then with extreme reluctance sighed and nodded a little bit, "Deal."

The owl barked triumphantly and then hopped from her post to his shoulder to nuzzle her human gently. Harry turned to Ahsoka to see her looking at him curiously, "Do you really understand what she's saying?"

Harry blinked a bit and chuckled, "Of course, I told you, Hedwig is… she's the direct descendent of my very first friend, and just like her several times great grandmother, she's the smartest being I know."

Ahsoka opened her mouth to reply, but the sheer earnestness and caring in his expression held her tongue.

Harry focused his attention back on her, though his fingers continued to stroke the underside of Hedwig's chest. "I've actually known Hedwig for a long time. But her grandmum, who was her namesake, was not only my very first friend, but my first real birthday present all wrapped up in one."

Seeing Ahsoka's look Harry chuckled, "I didn't choose the name for her. It was a tradition for me for my owls to help choose their names. This girl was as stubborn and intelligent as the original Hedwig and refused to respond to anything else."

Harry's smile was a combination of fond and melancholy, "I like to think the spirit of my first friend lives on in this Hedwig." Hedwig ruffled her feathers and barked at him seeming to agree with his statement.

He turned his attention back on Ahsoka and chuckled, "I suppose we better go make sure Blue has calmed down and then see if we can help with the clean-up around here."

"I see you got the freed slaves out with the wookiees. Thanks for that. I assume we still have to get rid of the morons stuffed in the brig. Since I doubt Dobby would have unsealed the areas yet," Harry saw Ahsoka nod in confirmation before chuckling a little bit, "We'll turn them over to the government here. I'm gonna hazard a guess that the Wookiees won't be feeling too forgiving at the moment. Sucks for them, huh?"

Harry shook his head, "I'm going to go talk to the wookiees. They're probably busy with clean up. I need to find my contact down at Rwookrrorro so that he can find a means to slip these slavers in amongst the rest of the group they captured."

He turned to Ahsoka, "Was there any problems when our passengers walked off? I doubt they were super excited about going out."

"Nope, they were all eager to leave," said Ahsoka. "I found one of the Wookiees in charge, explained what had happened, and they arranged transport for them all."

"Well, I would've hoped to have turned over the slavers at the same time over to Salporin. He's my main contact. He could've likely sold the slaver's freighter that I'm going to turn over to them and had most of the proceeds diverted to living accommodations for them," Harry stated as he moved through the ship.

"I got the impression after our help that making sure they weren't destitute wasn't going to be an issue." Ahsoka said.

"Eh, it just makes it a bit harder to keep it all straight with them all spread around now. Then again, I figure it may save us some trouble in the long run. The wookiees are likely to be right grumpy with the slavers," Harry shook his head a little bit and then turned to leave the cockpit, "Anyway, I hope Blue gets over her conniption. I'm going to go give the Wookiees a hand then speak to one of my friends in charge around here. We'll go back to my place when I'm done."

Ahsoka glared and quickstepped to follow him out of the cockpit, "She wouldn't be in a conniption if you didn't provoke her so much," Ahsoka said without much heat.

Harry grinned a little bit, and was completely unrepentant, "Yeah, but people shouldn't be so serious all the time. I've sorta made it my unofficial duty to make sure that, unless it's a combat scenario or planning meeting that involves saving someone's life, life shouldn't be all that serious."

"Um, she was in a conniption because she thought you were going to be stuck using a droid arm for the rest of your life after she saw you save her life, nearly dying yourself. That's kinda just cause for being slightly serious," argued Ahsoka a little bit of her own frustration showing at Harry's blasé manner.

"Wouldn't that fall under 'attachments'? Being attached to one's limbs or someone else's limbs?" Harry asked with a raised eyebrow before he grinned a little bit after the sarcastic remark.

His face turned serious and he shrugged, "She's going to have to learn to get used to expressing emotions."

Ahsoka tilted her head curiously, "And the best way to do that is to drive her crazy?"

Harry blinked innocently at her, "There's another way?"

He grinned a little bit and then turned to head out of the ship. Ahsoka shook her head bemusedly and followed, noticing that Aayla was near the access panel for the exit ramp, arms still crossed.

"Hey Blue, you coming to help out or not?" Harry grinned.

She didn't dignify that with a response but she _did _follow them out of the ship to help with the clean-up with the wookiees.

**ooOoOOoOoo**

Harry was rubbing his eyes slowly, looking to all the galaxy as if he was trying to fight off a headache, "I'm sorry Salporin, can you run that one by me again?"

The large wookiee gestured emphatically amongst a series of growls in Shyriiwook.

"And… why don't you want to bring the ship into the atmosphere? Don't you want to transfer the slave crew from the ship? That's more than a bit complicated in space… especially with prisoners..." Harry replied with a slightly discombobulated look on his face.

Salporin gave what could only be a feral grin to go with a rather rambling response.

"What do you mean, the ship didn't have any crew on-board, and what decorations? What are you…?" Harry froze for several seconds and then sighed visibly, "DOBBY!"

Ahsoka's montrals picked up the small crack and sudden presence as Dobby appeared behind some crates and came running out. She scowled at the behavior, then realized that it was possible Harry didn't want Dobby's abilities widely spread. Just as her frown was beginning to fade as she realized this, it returned in full force as she saw he was wearing a bizarre outfit she had never seen before.

The little house elf had a triangular hat, that had a picture of a skull and two bones crossed underneath. He also wore a patch over one of his overly large eyes, so much so that the patch dominated his face. There was a green representation of a bird on his shoulder and one of his hands held a crudely fashioned hook.

"Yes Master Harry Potter sir?" The small creature hesitated and then tried to lower his voice without much success, "I mean _ARRRR _Master Harry Potter, sir!"

Ahsoka and Aayla were both staring back and forth between Dobby and Harry. Trying to decide who was more amusing; Dobby in his current outfit or the look on Harry's face of someone who was attempting unsuccessfully to fight off the rise of a migraine.

Harry took a breath and spoke quietly and with deliberate calmness, "Dobby. Why are you wearing that? And talking like that, for that matter?"

Dobby bounced eagerly, "Arrr! Dobby is dressed up like a pirate!" He waved his hook around for emphasis and succeeded in bonking himself in the head with it which caused him to blink a few times before shaking it off.

Harry once more spoke calmly, though his expression was somewhat forced, "Yes, I see that. The question is why?"

"Master Harry Potter encourage Dobby to dress however he feels like." Dobby expressed in confusion.

"Yes, I know Dobby, and why do you feel like a pirate?" Harry asked with that same fixed expression and patient tone.

"Because Dobby stole a ship! Master Harry Potter say peoples who steal ships are pirates. So Dobby is now Pirate Dobby! Arrr!" Dobby waved around the hook as he tried to get across his point.

Harry groaned softly, rubbing a hand over his face before he took a very deep breath, "Okay Pirate Dobby."

It really wasn't worth getting into a discussion about at the moment. Harry filed it away to talk about later… or possibly never. He had more important things to figure out, "What did you do with the ship's crew?"

"Nasty snake men. Pirate Dobby not be liking them. Pirate Dobby used sticking charms on them, and then moved them," The diminutive being explained.

Harry had a suspicious look on his face and a slightly sinking feeling in the pit of his stomach, "Sticking charms… where did you stick them?"

"Pirate Dobby be sticking them on outside of ship for safe keeping!" The little figure bounced up and down proudly.

Harry blinked. Then blinked again. He groaned softly, understanding why suddenly the wookiees liked the decorations on the ship. Salporin was quite eager in his desire for the ship and now Harry understood why.

"Dobby. The snake men can't breathe in vacuum," Harry said with a sigh, not really remonstrating his friend. But clarifying for him.

Dobby blinked innocently at him, "That not being Dobby's fault."

Ahsoka and Aayla both stared at Dobby in a mixture of shock, horror and only the slightest tinge of amusement while Harry was rubbed his temples and muttered under his breath before he responded, "Alright. Thank you Dobby, you can go back to the ship."

Dobby saluted Harry proudly, or attempted to. Instead he managed to poke himself in the eye not covered with the patch with the hook. He yelped in pain and then stumbled first into a wall and then into some crates before walking around them in the direction of the ship, though a few seconds later there was a soft pop in the air.

"Harry… did he… just kill the Trandoshans on that ship by spacing them?" Aayla asked, sounding vaguely horrified.

Harry nodded with a little bit of a resigned expression on his face and in his tone, "Yes, and the wookiees want to buy the ship, bodies and all, because they say it will send a powerful message in order to ward off any other slaver attempts."

Salporin roared in a bit longer of a statement.

"Oh, and because they say it's the ultimate hunting trophy." Harry added.

Ahsoka frowned still processing the concept of what Harry was saying, "Why didn't he just incapacitate them… he didn't have to… execute them?"

"He was worried about the safety of the wookiees that were kidnapped and Dobby doesn't like slavers any more than I do," Harry replied with a shake of his head.

Harry couldn't help but shrug a bit after he said this. He really wasn't all that bothered by what Dobby had done, more just caught off guard by the entire thing. Every time he thought he could predict the little creature, he would do something bizarre and throw Harry completely for a loop.

"Still…" Ahsoka trailed off, it wasn't so much the killings that bothered her, nor who was killed. It was Harry's blasé acceptance of Dobby's actions that were a little startling to her. Her tone was shocked though not overly challenging.

Aayla frowned but also had a thoughtful look on her face. She knew what the Wookiee's response to the slavery attempt would be. Still though, she struggled to wrap her mind around the concept. Though she wasn't sure whether it was in response to Harry's acceptance or Dobby's seeming complete lack of awareness of the situation and its moral implications.

There was also the minor thought in the back of her mind, that she honestly didn't care for the ultimate fate of the slavers, as long as she wasn't directly linked to it. With Dobby's involvement in their death, the full impact of what had been done seemed all the more significant. Vaguely, she realized it was rather hypocritical of her to think that it wasn't a big deal to execute the slavers, so long as the Wookiees did it and no one associated to the group she was now part of.

Harry held up his hand to Aayla to cut off the question or protest he could see brewing on her face, "Look, Dobby did what I told him. He got onto the ship, saved the captives, and kept himself safe. That was exactly what I asked of him. I'm not going to yell at him, or let you yell at him."

He turned back to Salporin and then nodded a bit, "I'll make you a deal. In fact, I'll trade you. I've given you both the slaves and the slavers I picked up off-world. You make sure both are taken care of appropriately. Find the freed slaves some place to live, and you let me keep using the landing pad space my ship is on and we'll call it even. I'll even throw in the slaver's ship as well so you can impound, search, and then sell the thing."

Salporin roared and nodded in what was obviously agreement.

"Awesome," Harry stated with a smile, looking pleased briefly before his expression then turned more serious, "You're going to interrogate the slavers right?"

Salporin nodded, growling an affirmative.

Harry's facial features hardened, and his voice returned to its deceptively calm tone, "I'd like you to… keep me in the loop about what you turn up. If you don't mind."

The wookiee made a questioning sound and tilted his head curiously.

"I don't know. Just a hunch. So many slavers working together, on something as bold as this. I'm curious as to why," Harry replied with a shake of his head, "Especially if there's a bit of a trail to follow."

Salporin nodded only to be distracted when another wookiee came up with his long strides. He exchanged a quick round of growls and barks at Salporin.

While the two Wookiees talked, Aayla spoke up. She had been quiet since Dobby's rather upbeat pronouncement that he had killed an entire ship's worth of slavers, "Harry, just so you know. I reported in with the Council, so they would know of the slavers attacking Kashyyyk."

"I also reported that you were in critical condition…" At Harry's raised eyebrows Aayla held her hands up defensively, "Well, at the time you were, and Master Yoda decided to send a healer here in case you need help to get back on your feet."

Harry frowned and tilted his head and then very deliberately looked down at his feet, "Seems I've managed it just fine."

Aayla sighed and shook her head, "But this is the first we're hearing of it. The last I had seen of you, you were missing your arm, a good portion of your left side… and you made a delirious comment about my breasts before disappearing."

"There was nothing delirious about that comment believe me," Harry replied with a grin.

Then he nodded solemnly and gave a drawn out sigh, "I can see where this is coming from. You're having difficulties believing me and having trouble trusting me on this."

He moved over against one of the sides of the office and leaned against the wall. "I can see why you contacted someone for an outsider's opinion, but there was no need to go to your Jedi Council for this."

He reached into one of his pockets, and pulled out a small datapad, and held it up so the unit's camera faced Aayla. "If you really think I was delirious and was totally wrong, you could always do some jumping jacks. I can broadcast the video around the holonet and ask them for their opinion of your breasts if you don't believe me about mine."

Aayla's jaw dropped once more, she thought she had gotten used to Harry's comments but he just seemed to be able to keep her off balance.

Harry grinned impishly, "Besides, I don't need to be delirious to comment on your breasts. I have no trouble standing by my previous comments and saying how beautifully formed and perky they are."

"Y...you..!" Aayla sputtered.

Harry grinned at Aayla loss of composure, "Hey, don't take my word for it, I'm sure Salporin would agree with me!"

Hearing his name, the wookiee turned and roared a statement at Harry.

"See. He agrees with me," Harry stated emphatically.

Aayla shot a look of betrayal at the wookiee.

"Harry's teasing you," Ahsoka interjected, amusement clear on her face, since she knew Aayla couldn't understand Shyriiwook.

Harry sighed, at Ahsoka spoiling his fun, "Yeah actually he said that you don't have enough fur. Though I personally don't go for the hirsute look."

Harry grinned and winked at Aayla who seemed completely robbed of speech before he turned away from her to speak to Salporin, "It's been a long day. I'm going to take these two back to my place. You know how to get in touch with me if you need something?"

The wookiee acknowledged him with a grunt and wave, before turning back to his own issues from today's events.

Harry led the two women out of the hut that made up a temporary office for Salporin, and headed back towards the ship. "I just want to pick up a few things from the _Gryffindor_ and we can go on down to my home and get some rest before this… healer shows up."

The second mention of the direction of his home finally got their attention, "Harry," asked Ahsoka. "You keep saying 'down' for your home. Where exactly do you live here?"

He glanced at Aayla, who had apparently just realized what those words could possibly mean, and the look of apprehension that was already upon Ahsoka's face since she'd already put two and two together, "Someplace where the neighbors aren't all that friendly, but it has a wonderful backyard."

After a few moments silence, Ahsoka blurted out, "Your home… is actually in the lower forest? It's not up here in the canopy?"

Harry's voice was unconcerned, "Yep, it was like wrestling a gundark with my bare hands to actually clear a beachhead down there, but I eventually got the place set up."

Their eyes were wide, and Harry couldn't honestly blame them. He was well aware it would've been like saying, 'Oh, it's perfectly safe setting up a treehouse in a tree next to Aragog's clearing.' Especially when there were creatures down in the lower tiers of the Kashyyyk forest canopy that made Aragog and his fellow acromantula look like the spiders that had once shared his cupboard.

"Why would you build a home down there?" asked Aayla finally as Harry quickly stepped into the ship only to come out literally a second later with a sack over his shoulder.

"I like the _Gryffindor, _but after wandering the galaxy for a while, I wanted someplace that wasn't just a ship," Harry said, accompanied by a bark from Hedwig who fluttered out of the sky and landed on Harry's shoulder.

He chuckled a little bit, "Hedwig definitely didn't appreciate always being stuck on ships all the time. So she finally guiled me into setting up a more permanent home."

"Yes… but why in the depths of the Kashyyyk forest?" Aayla asked as Harry looked around.

"Kashyyyk has one of the largest concentrations of magic I've ever seen. The entire planet, all of the plant life is drenched in magic," Harry replied as his eyes got a faraway look in them.

"Magic on this planet runs through the ground and infuses everything. Every tree, every branch, every creature. It makes me wonder how magic has impacted the course of this world over the eons…" Harry's musing voice trailed off as he seemed to ponder the idea.

Ahsoka recognized the signs of one of Harry's drift-offs, where he seemed to forget his surroundings. She snapped her fingers in front of his face which focused his eyes immediately.

Ahsoka and Aayla exchanged looks at this. It was Aayla's first true time seeing the drift-off Ahsoka had described previously. Aayla's glance immediately let Ahsoka know that they would be discussing it more later on in private. Aayla wasn't entirely sure what to think about the habit, any more than she had been when Ahsoka had described it to her previously. She wasn't sure what to make of it.

On one hand it worried her because he seemed to just go someplace else mentally in the middle of a conversation. On the other it struck her sort of like some older people she had dealt with in the past. People who have to actually stop what they're doing to truly remember back some great distance or time previous. In fact it was much like Yoda would sometimes do when speaking of a historical event he had lived through that he was sharing with a youngling.

Harry though, seemed completely oblivious to the byplay between the Jedi as he began talking immediately. "Anyway! First we have to get there. Normally I'd take you the scenic route, but that would take hours. You've both experienced apparition. We're going to try another form of magical travel. It's useful, just a bit uncomfortable to get used to, kind of like apparition."

Harry summoned a spare bit of wire from the docking bay and then tapped his finger to it. Both Aayla and Ahsoka felt the surge of Force and stared at the wire as it glowed blue.

To them, the wire now felt like it had been made unstable somehow in the Force, as if it would somehow explode from the energies contained in it at any moment. Harry held it out for them, "Go ahead and touch it."

The two women exchanged a look and then hesitantly reached out to touch the wire, "Aayla, since I've given you such a rough time lately, I want you to set this off. Keep your hand on the wire, and then say the word I'm about to write."

Harry held a hand up in the air, and letters of fire formed from a finger. The word was easily recognizable, and Aayla only hesitated a fraction of a moment at seeing yet another ability she would never have comprehended before she said the word that had been spelled out in the free-floating flames, "Home."

The two Jedi gasped as they were immediately surrounded by Force energies that gripped them somewhere around the area right behind their belly buttons and pulled. Suddenly, they found themselves jostled side-to-side in a vortex of swirling winds and the Force as they were yanked along with wherever the wire was now dragging them.

The two Jedi screamed almost in unison for just a moment before they landed on the ground with a heavy "Thump".

"Be it ever so humble, there's no place like home. You both are welcome here," they heard Harry say with curious formality as he stood next to where the girls lay on the ground.

The two girls staggered to their hands and knees breathing heavily, trying to keep their stomachs from rebelling looking around wildly and quickly scrambling away from the now docile piece of wire on the ground.

"And that," Harry said from a few meters away, and there was no mistaking the humor in his voice, "Is what my people call a portkey."

"You have no idea how many years it took me so that I didn't face plant every time I travelled by one. My friends all thought it was quite funny, that I just couldn't seem to get the knack for them." Harry smiled ruefully.

Both Aayla and Ahsoka shuddered a bit, "That was…. _horrible_" Aayla said.

"Yes, it is for beginners." Harry nodded agreeably, though his expression reflected more than a little weariness "But do you have any idea at all how far you just travelled?"

Both of the women exchanged a look and shook their heads.

"A third of the way around the planet," Harry said wryly, giving them a smile, albeit one that showed clear fatigue on his face. Aayla looked more surprised than Ahsoka did. Ahsoka already had experience with long range apparition.

Ahsoka was the first to regain her voice, "How long did that take?"

"A few seconds. Though part of that was starting and landing, but the trip itself wasn't quite instantaneous like apparition is. It's also better for groups of people. Some wizards have problems apparating more than just themselves," Harry replied. "One extra person is fine for a few. But it's rare for people to manage more than one without messing it up."

"But how did it work?" asked Aayla, finally regaining her voice.

"Short answer is simply 'magic,'" Harry replied and then offered a somewhat drained chuckle, "If you want the longer answer that involves a lot more theory, and there's some debate between two popular theories, One says that technically you left this dimension, and crossed over into another dimension briefly. While the other says that you were just rendered incorporeal while you were pulled from point A to point B."

That comment, and the blasé way in which Harry stated it silenced both of them, and left them both staring with wide eyes at him

"We left our own dimension?" Aayla breathed out more than said.

Harry quirked his head, and shrugged, "I don't honestly know."

"Did… that thing just send us into hyperspace and back? Because honestly with all the lights blurring past, that's what it reminded me of," Ahsoka asked with narrowed eyes.

"You know… I hadn't considered that before," Harry replied. His tiredness seemed to fade while he pondered a moment before he shook his head slowly, seeming to work it out as he thought about it, "I'm pretty sure it's not hyperspace. The planet's gravity well would skew things too much, if not outright prevent things from happening. And no portkey I've ever tested has been affected by gravity. I mean I could portkey you from here to space, or here to nearly anywhere I picture and don't think it will be affected by gravity."

Harry's face took on a mischievous grin, "Of course I'd be happy to let you test your hypothesis first hand. I could always strap you down to a chair and give you a renewable portkey that fires over and over again for a few hours straight. You can tell us all about your observations afterward."

Harry chuckled tiredly and shook his head at the two who were still trying to wrap their heads around what just happened, "I tried it once, and all I figured out was that it was indeed possible to be portkeyed while puking up one's guts."

When his comments were met with silence Harry shrugged and walked forward and away from the girls. Their gasps a few moments later let him know they had just taken stock of their wider surroundings.

In front of them was a large oddly shaped structure. Unlike most dwellings on this planet it wasn't formed from the trees or roots, and it certainly wasn't a mud hut.

The abode seemed to be shaped from the rock and ground itself, rising out of the same ground seamlessly. There were no adornments, or fence around the property. There were no fancy windows, or landscaping. There was just a paved rock path that circled the edge of a small lake, lined by glowing blue flames that cut through the moss covered surface.

They had taken a few steps to follow Harry as he'd already begun to move towards his house, when suddenly Aayla and Ahsoka stopped. Both of their attention was focused clearly upon the pitch black waters of a lake whose edges were barely illuminated by the glow of the fires.

"We're on the surface of Kashyyyk," said Aayla, who received a nod of acknowledgement from Ahsoka when she said it.

"Come on you two, hurry up!" called Harry back to them, his patience running thin in his weary state.

They quickly raced to catch up, and reached him just as began to climb the front steps of his house. Harry moved past the wide front porch and pushed the doors open, with an ominous creaking sound.

He turned and smiled at the two women who had finally walked forward, albeit slowly. He gave them an impish grin and waved them inside the house.

The inside of the house was similar to the outside only in general coloring. Inside was also lit by blue fires, giving the entire area a slightly blue tinge and an eerie feel. The rest however seemed like it was designed by a madman.

Truthfully it didn't really seem like a house so much as it was a warehouse. There was one large area. Different sections contained different things. One area had small boxes piled and scattered everywhere. One area had tables with glass beakers and cauldrons, the cauldrons seemed to have some sort of barrier made of the force over them, and the liquid seemed to be stuck in time and unmoving. There was a large area with rows and rows of bookshelves that seemed to go on quite a bit.

It also struck both women as very low tech. Save for one area where there seemed to be piles of electronic gadgets and wires in piles, the rest of the warehouse seemed completely devoid of technology. In fact it seemed downright primitive.

Harry yawned a bit, and then looked around, "Dobby!"

Dobby popped up in front of Harry, he was still wearing his pirate outfit, "Arrr, Master Harry Potter, sir!"

"Dobby, I'm going to bed. Could you make up some beds for Blue and Ahsoka? And guide the two of them there when they ask for them?" Harry asked with a tired smile on his face. He had intended to do more to show off the home, but his weariness caught up with him all at once. It had been quite a while since he had slept.

Dobby nodded and disappeared with a small pop.

Harry turned back to his guests who were still staring around wide eyed. "Look I'm going to crash. It's been awhile since I got some shut eye. If you need anything, call for Dobby. He could get you some food. Feel free to look around, be careful of what you touch. You never know what might bite or explode. Good rule of thumb… if it's glowing, liquid or moving, touching is probably a bad idea."

Harry didn't even wait for a response, instead he walked over toward one corner of the giant warehouse space and after kicking off his boots he unceremoniously flopped down onto a large cot. He seemed to pay the two of them no attention and it seemed like he was instantly out.

Both girls were a bit surprised by the abruptness. It had bordered on rudeness but his tiredness had been on display pretty much since the portkey plopped them down outside of his house.

Ahsoka who was more used to his ways at this point shrugged, "Maybe healing up lost limbs makes him sleepy?"

Aayla snorted but she had no better idea or rejoinder for the Togrutan. She wondered if Harry's attitude toward her had changed, if he was willing to let her wander around his home, perhaps he was no longer thinking of her as a spy. That thought was cut short as she realized where they were.

They were on the surface of Kashyyyk, somewhere on the planet. If they wanted to leave it would be a dangerous venture back to the surface. And it wasn't like they could get Wookiee help this far down, especially if they couldn't communicate with them, much less tell any rescue party where they could be found.

Dobby popped back into existence right in front of them, though he was no longer wearing a pirate outfit, instead a standard black suit, "Beds are ready when Blue Lady and Miss Soaky are ready for them."

"Thank you Dobby, we're not quite ready to sleep. But I'll ask you to show us there in a little while." Ahsoka said politely to the little creature. It was true, though it had been a long few days, Ahsoka was still too keyed up to sleep. She could tell Aayla felt the same. Whether it was finally being in Harry's home, or the leftover adrenaline from the portkey, neither of them were ready to bed down.

Ahsoka allowed a puzzled expression to cross her face as she looked down at the diminutive figure, "What happened to the pirate's outfit?"

"Dobby had trouble making beds with his hook Miss Soaky!" Dobby replied before he nodded his head and disappeared.

Ahsoka exchanged a look with Aayla before she moved over toward the area that looked like a chemistry lab.

"What are you doing?" Aayla asked as she followed, looking about. Her voice was lowered in case she woke Harry. This was not what she expected Harry's house to look like. Then again Aayla couldn't say exactly what sort of abode she expected the very bizarre man to have.

Ahsoka shrugged in response to Aayla's question, "He said we could look around." She was examining the cauldron that was bubbling ominously with a pink viscous liquid. It was the only one of the things on the table that didn't seem frozen in place. She saw one cauldron had a liquid substance that was bubbling, or it was frozen in that state, one of the bubbles in stasis was in the middle of popping.

She looked around and couldn't identify a single ingredient or anything on the table. There were plants and pieces of objects that she didn't even try to identify. Ahsoka shook her head and moved away from the chemistry table, looking around the warehouse space. The furniture didn't interest her, nor did the piles of small boxes.

She was tempted by the piles of modern technology, but instead she decided that would always keep for later and headed toward the huge standing bookshelves. Aayla trailed behind her by a few steps, simply following as she tried to take in everything at once. It seemed clear that Ahsoka was taking in the strangeness a lot easier than Aayla was.

"All of this is so… bizarre," Ahsoka commented as she walked down one of the aisles at random, her movements slow as she looked at titles of many books she couldn't recognize the language of.

"What do you mean?" Aayla asked, also looking side to side at the books.

Ahsoka just shook her head and gestured around the bookshelves that stood higher than the two of them combined.

Aayla nodded a bit. The books were certainly an anachronism, "You're right, but it's not what bothers me."

Ahsoka turned to her with interest as they walked down the row of books aimlessly.

"Did he tell you about his people?" Aayla asked, taking her companion's expression as one of interest.

Ahsoka nodded easily, "He talked about their understanding and use of magic quite a bit. It was one of our main topics of discussion."

"Then where are they?" Aayla asked bluntly.

"What do you mean?" Ahsoka replied, a puzzled look crossing her face as she observed her friend.

"Where are his people? Why has he made a home here on Kashyyyk?" Aayla asked gesturing around.

"He said his people haven't managed to escape their gravity well." Ahsoka answered, remembering an offhand comment Harry had made.

"Then how did he get here? And why does he make his home in what is widely considered one of the most dangerous places in the galaxy that is still hospitable to sentient life?" Aayla asked.

Ahsoka paused and looked puzzled, "You know… that's a really good question. I hadn't really pressed him about his history or his people. I was more interested in some of the things we were discussing on Magic."

Aayla sighed a bit, still not liking the fact that Ahsoka seemed much more comfortable with calling the Force, Magic than she should have been. She was pondering Harry's effect on the former padawan when they made it to the end of the long aisle and came out of the bookshelves and found a small study like area, completely surrounded by the rows of bookshelves in its own little square.

There was a large easy chair that was made of a dark material that looked well worn, as well as a desk with a wooden though cushioned chair. There was a fireplace along one wall, and their entry seemed to be the catalyst for the fire to ignite. Only the fire was different than the floating blue fire balls of fire that filled the rest of the area. This was normal looking fire that roared to life and filled the area with light and warmth.

"Huh… looks cozy." Aayla observed.

"Who are you?" Inquired a curious female voice

Both Aayla and Ahsoka jumped in shock at the sudden comment. They looked around rapidly for the source of the sound. Both were in instinctive defensive stances while scanning the room for threats or any sign of movement. Though they found nothing, the area was empty. The two of them without needing more than a glance at one another began looking down the aisle ways of the books for a sign of someone else around.

There was a soft and throaty chuckle of amusement at their actions.

"Where are you hiding?" Ahsoka demanded

"She's not hiding. You're simply not looking in the right place," Another amused female voice responded dryly.

When both Jedi continued to express confusion there was a sigh. The second voice took pity on them, "Look over by the fire."

Both Jedi followed the direction and looked at the fire.

There was another sigh, "Now look up."

The two Jedi looked up, as one. They found themselves facing two beautiful life size human women. Though they were both very different.

One was blonde, looking down at them with an imperiously raised eyebrow. She was wearing a very stately dress. It was a less formal version of something Aayla thought she might see at a high society function on some worlds. The woman was sitting in an easy chair, similar to the easy chair sitting in the room. In the background there were shelves of books, very similar to the ones surrounding the little study.

The other woman was as different as could be. Firstly, she had vivid pink hair and was standing with her arms crossed. She was dressed in dark pants, a coat and a light blouse. It was clear that the combination was uber casual and well worn. She had a wide and amused smirk on her face as she looked down at the two Jedi.

The background of her portrait was even more varied. A door was off to one side, which was open to reveal a lush green meadow behind and some kind of stands for possibly a sports stadium. Other than that, there were a few chairs present, along with a bookcase that mirrored the one in the opposite frame.

Aayla and Ahsoka exchanged a look, "Is it… high definition view screens of some sort?" Aayla ventured as they moved closer.

The woman on the right with blonde hair snorted indelicately, "You haven't answered my question. Who are you? And… for that matter, _what_ are you?"

"My guess? Hookers with very exotic makeup." offered the pink haired one brightly,

"Doubtful. Harry would never invite hookers into his home. Perhaps it is muggle Halloween again. Those costumes get more complicated every year." the blonde offered after a few moments of silence from the two non-humans.

Aayla and Ahsoka exchanged a look before Ahsoka shrugged a little bit still looking for the view screen buttons.

"I'm Ahsoka Tano and this is Aayla Secura, and we're not wearing makeup or anything..." She replied honestly,

Aayla however had moved in for a closer examination before she shot Ahsoka a startled look, "They're… paintings."

The blonde sniffed haughtily, "Of course we're paintings. It seems that only one of you possesses manners. It's a pleasure to meet you Ahsoka Tano, I am Daphne Potter."

The pink haired one rolled her eyes, "Lighten up, Daph."

The pink haired one had a more friendly expression on her face, and spoke again, "If you are not in costume, would you mind telling us what you are? We've never seen beings like you."

"Er... I'm a Togrutan, and Aayla is a Twi'lek. Who are you?" Ahsoka replied somewhat uncertainly, looking closer to see that the blue Jedi master was correct, they did seem to be paintings.

The pink haired one grinned, "My name is Tonks, and like blondie said, she's Daphne."

Daphne narrowed her eyes and turned to shoot a glare at her companion, "My friend isn't entirely honest. Her real name is Nymphadora."

She narrowed her eyes, "You know I hate that name."

Daphne shrugged, "And you know how I despise 'Blondie'. Besides, we've gone over this ad nauseam. After you married, you no longer were Tonks at all."

Tonks groused and rolled her eyes at the cool reply before focusing back on the women.

"So what are you doing here?" Tonks asked curiously.

"Um. Harry brought us here, said it was his home," Ahsoka replied looking up at the women with confusion.

Tonks and Daphne exchanged a long look, though they didn't say anything to that comment.

"So… what are you?" Ahsoka asked and then shook her head quickly, "I mean, if you're a painting, how are you alive? Is this more magic?"

Daphne twitched her lips thoughtfully before she replied, "We're not alive. Not really. Portraits are done and then a person imprints their personality, opinions, thoughts, and memories with magic."

Tonks interjected "The more magic used on the imprint, the stronger the tie is. Harry used… a lot of his magic, so our portraits are fairly accurate reflections. He even got his magic to allow my hair to change colors." She demonstrated by shifting colors rapidly in the painting.

Aayla was still examining the paintings closely, and had gone so far as to reach out to touch a corner, but a scowl from Daphne stopped her, "So you're… simulacroms? Of real people?"

Daphne regarded Aayla with a look bordering between curiosity and disdain, "Seems this one isn't entirely empty headed. That is correct."

"Okay… why would Harry have these portraits made of you?" Ahsoka asked.

Both portraits had an eerily similar sad smile, "So that he might have remembrance of us after we passed on." Daphne replied.

"After you passed on?" Ahsoka echoed with a puzzled tone.

"Yeah, you know… kicked the bucket, croaked, on to the next great adventure… you know... died," Tonks added

"So… you're dead?" Aayla echoed.

Daphne sighed and rolled her eyes, "Perhaps I spoke too soon about your intelligence. Yes, she means dead."

"You misunderstood my question. I meant... why does he have portraits of you specifically?" Ahsoka asked, curiously.

Daphne tilted her head to regard Ahsoka thoughtfully before she responded, "So he would always have a memento of his wives."

"Someone married him?" Aayla blurted out before her eyes widened in surprise.

Ahsoka blinked in surprise, caused just as much by the portrait's statements as by Aayla's blunt declaration. There was soft laughter from both of the portraits.

"You know, you'd be surprised how many times we've heard that particular opinion expressed." She said with a low laugh of amusement.

"For a multitude of reasons," Daphne added dryly.

"The question that interests me, is how he met you, and decided he'd invite you to his home. That never happens," Tonks spoke up thoughtfully.

"I bet I can guess," Daphne said with an expression of fond amusement as she rolled her eyes.

When the two Jedi looked at her she raised an eyebrow, "His saving people thing?"

Aayla and Ahsoka blinked together, before Ahsoka nodded a bit, "Yes… that's right. That's what he called it too."

"Figures." The two portraits said together.

"The latest damsels he's rescued," said Tonks

"You've joined an elite company of women who owe their lives to that man," said Daphne.

"You both as well?" Ahsoka inquired.

Tonks snorted, "More times than I can count."

"Very true," said Daphne, before she seemed to wilt, "Though it is the one time he couldn't… 'save us', if you can even call it that, which still haunts him."

"You both… died and he blames himself for it because he couldn't stop it?" asked Aayla, inferring what wasn't said from that statement.

Both portraits simply nodded, with Daphne adding, "From a certain point of view," before saying nothing more.

Aayla leaned forward suddenly with an eager look on her face. If these women knew about Harry then they could help her and Ahsoka gain some insight into the man, "Can you tell us more about Harry?"

The two portraits frowned as one and exchanged looks before Tonks replied, "Mm. No, not without his permission."

Ahsoka hesitated and ventured, "You're both under oath like we are not to spread his secrets?"

Tonks laughed at that, "No, I just won't give the secrets of my husband and father of my children away to two women I just met, regardless of how good… or bizarre... both of them look."

"Children?" coughed Aayla in befuddlement,

**oOooOoOOoOooOo**

**Author's notes: Well… that was fun! As always, thanks go to Plums for his amazing work in this collaboration.**

**1) We start to get an idea of Harry's history, and more will come out over the next few chapters. Obviously we see it diverged from canon. But… how and where? Remains to be seen. Also… Dobby was really funny to write. I sort of love just how possibly crazy he could truly be. **

**2) Not one reviewer guessed what event was going to be interrupted. I am not much surprise as it's only mentioned once or twice. Mallie, the mother of Starkiller (yes, I made up her last name as I could find no reference to it.) was killed during a trandoshan raid. I have never played Star Wars Battlefront or Republic Commando. The timeline on their arrival to Kashyyyk is a little murky so I just went with it. Don't expect Starkiller to have a massive impact on the story. :P mostly just small events that will snowball and have a huge affect on the timeline. **

**3) Yes. I totes did the oaths offscreen. Mostly because I figured you could use your imagination to fill them in and not need me to tell that specific portion of the story. Ahsoka and Aayla gave an oath :P i just saved 2-3k words in a story that is plenty long. **

**4) No, as of right now, I have no plans to hook Shaak Ti up with Harry (Plums - or does she?). I have plans, but I do not envision those including a planned pairing of her and Harry (Plums - Dobby and Shaak Ti though… there's an itch that needs to be scratched). Kat: I must now go bleach my brain.**

**5) Once more to those who accuse me of having Harry as a Mary Sue- He isn't. Yes he is very powerful. Yes he has quirks, and should be interesting going forward. But his actions and attitudes will result in negative consequences as well. You just might take awhile to see them ^_^ **

**6) Plums Ponderings:**

**Again, its very odd to try and write something about a chapter which Kat and I wrote 6-7 months ago and now come back to in order to 'edit' and prep for posting. **

**The main things that stand out about this and the next few chapters was the tight-rope act of trying not to just throw the character together, avoid having them trust each other implicitly immediately, and gauge how much of an info dump we should do about Harry's background. Hopefully we've managed that and made whatever relationship that may or may not happen between the characters believable in how it develops.**

**oOooOoOOoOooOo**

**Alternative Chapter Titles**

"**At least it wasn't my right arm." - Harry**

"Oh, like it matters which arm?" - Ahsoka

"If it had been my right arm, that would have been instant dark lord!" - Harry

"..." - Aayla and Ahsoka.

"**Yet another reason, Dobby is not a decorator." - Harry**

"**Dobby Not Decorator, Dobby a Pirate!" - Pirate Dobby.**

"**I totally picked the wrong day to come into work." -Slaver just released to Wookiees.**

"**That time Harry said 'Go ahead and touch it.' and then blew my mind." - Ahsoka**

"... I'm so proud." - Harry

"**I come from a land down under!" - Harry Potter singing. **

"You better run, you better take cover." - Ahsoka.

"**Harry Potter: Near death and still a pervert." - Aayla**

**Good Fan Suggested Alternative titles for last chapter: **Honest Lunar Raven

**"How to Untrain Your Jedi 2." - Harry Potter.**

"The first one was better..." - Ahsoka.

**"Harry Potter reduces a girl to tears." - Ahsoka**

"At least I wasn't kissing the girl this time..." - Harry.

**Communication, Consideration and Cleavage - Midnight Angels**

**~As always, Read and review!~**


	8. The Wand Chooses the Witch

**Chapter 8**

**The Wand Chooses the Witch**

A figure sat in his high backed chair and steepled his fingers for a moment. Long practice and a will of steel allowed him to contain his anger over the news he had just heard so that no one in the room was aware of his displeasure.

Palpatine dismissed his aides and guards from his private office with a short and curt, "Leave me." They hadn't hesitated in obeying the command as they emptied the room immediately.

When the door sealed shut behind the last of his guests, he finally leaned back in his seat to consider what he had just been informed. Via a holocom conference, he had been given some news that had, moments earlier, been announced on the Senate floor. The representative from Kashyyyk had just informed the entire Senate of an attack by a large group of slavers on the Wookiee homeworld.

The attack which, at the very least, should have been partially successful, had apparently been stopped dead by the Wookiees. To say that it was an unequivocal failure was an understatement, and not something he was used to after years of almost unopposed success and numerous victories salvaged from defeats.

The Wookiees were quite pleased that they managed to prevent any of the ships from escaping and that casualties had been low. On the other hand they were very irritated by the situation as a whole, that slavers had attempted to farm their population. And, of course, when Wookiees were irritated, people tended to lose things like limbs… not to mention lives.

The Wookiee representative had made very pointed statements indicating that they were not going to just allow the situation to rest. They had made it clear that they were going to do everything in their power to hunt down the organizations that would dare attempt to perpetrate such an action. They would then exact their primitive brand of justice.

To say Palpatine was also irritated at the situation was an understatement. It had required quite a bit of manipulation of people through his apprentice to let the slave cartels know of an interest in a large crop of Wookiee slaves while simultaneously hiding their own involvement in the request.

Few of the cartels would have managed to get enough to fill a large request on their own, and none of the ones that could would have been so sloppy or accepted such a short timeline to do so. So several smaller organizations had needed to band together for quite the attempt on the Wookiee homeworld.

Palpatine was pleased because it ultimately was his favorite sort of action; a strike that would have fulfilled multiple purposes.

The Wookiees would have made excellent slaves for any number of pet projects he had. They were immensely strong. They were very durable and could survive any number of harsh conditions from extreme heat to extreme cold. They were controllable through the judicious administration of pain and threats, like almost all sapient creatures.

It also helped that they were very long lived. Their prime was measured in centuries not a decade or two, so their lifetime expectancy as slaves before their 'expiration date' was nearly ten times that of other species in situations that required hard or dangerous levels of labor. One Wookiee over their lifetime, once strength, durability and lifespan were taken into account was probably worth 100 human slaves. It was only fitting that the beasts filled the role that the Force had so obviously chosen for them.

However, the benefit of slaves was almost incidental at the moment. The attack would have been a morale blow to the Wookiees, something not to be underestimated in the psyche of any species.

The attack would have caused the attention of the wookiees to turn homeward, so their support for the war would have diminished. As would their humanitarian support, as if the beasts were capable of such, for their allies as the wookiees were forced to use more resources on their home planet. They would also have focused on trying to track down the missing wookiees, much more effectively weakening the defense of the world.

Equally as concerning for Palpatine was that the events, as they had occurred, meant his information on the strength of the Wookiee's planetary defenses and their collective preparation for assault by external forces was woefully and possibly dangerously inaccurate. The beasts should not had such a profound success against the surprise raid that had sprang up literally from nowhere. They certainly should not have been able to completely stop the raid, at the very least, a handful of ships with slave cargo should have escaped.

Palpatine closed his eyes and inwardly cursed his complete lack of intelligence connections on the Wookiee home planet. It was one of the few he had no minions or spies on.

Wookiee society was simply just not one of those where he could just insert a non-indigenous species spy and waited for them to ingratiate themselves with the local government through lies, bribery and manipulation and begin to provide information. It just simply didn't work on that planet given some of its history. The animals were just not welcoming of any outsiders without some bizarre qualifications that seemed to shift depending on the day.

Palpatine clenched his jaw before smoothing his expression out. He knew that his apprentice had approached it with his typical meticulousness and attention to detail. The plan had even staggered the arrival times of the various cartel members so that at least one or two of the ships that had already been planet side well in advance of when the attack began in earnest could've left orbit before the wookiees even realized that members of their population were being forcefully culled.

But unless the wookiees were lying to save face, none of the ships had escaped. Palpatine dismissed that idea out of hand. The beasts weren't canny enough to know the value of disinformation. And he knew that wasn't him being arrogant, he was well aware how wookiees could take even small white lies as grave offenses. He had mediated more than one dispute because the brutes fixated on an offhand comment and wouldn't let matters rest until their honor had been satisfied.

The Wookiees had, unsurprisingly already announced that interrogations had begun, and that once completed, would likely result in standard wookiee justice for slavers.

It was time to ensure that loose end was halted before it could bear fruit.

Palpatine lifted his cowl to cover his face before he activated several of the silencing and counterintelligence devices he had throughout his office. Several of the devices were redundant, but he was nothing if not cautious. Then he activated his personal holocom.

It was almost a minute before the call connected, though that wasn't a surprise. Palpatine knew the call was being rerouted and bounced hundreds of times to hide the transmission points. Even if they managed to intercept the communication, and then somehow managed to crack the difficult encryption that he changed with every call. Then they'd still have difficulty tracking the source or destination of the transmission.

However, the holocom beeped and finally resolved into the face of his apprentice Darth Tyrannus. Or as he was more well known, Count Dooku.

"Yes, my Master?" The count's refined voice answered through the com. He made no attempt to hide his face, his cultured aristocratic features showing arrogance, which showed even through the distortion of the holocom field.

"My apprentice. The assault of the slavers on the wookiees was a miserable failure. Not a single slaver's ship escaped," Palpatine's statement was short and to the point.

Count Dooku in his normal manner reflected very little shock, merely raising one eyebrow to register his surprise.

"Most unexpected," was the even and calm response.

"Yes," Palpatine agreed, nodding slightly. "This will require damage control. Eliminate all middlemen who were involved in the negotiations and distribution of information. Their liquidation must be complete."

"That work has already been completed, Master," Dooku replied with a faint smile, "You stated that you did not wish it to be traced back to supporters of either side of the conflict. None of the contacts involved in this operation were valuable, and it was past time for some of them to be silenced anyways. Their usefulness was at an end."

"Good. Good," Palpatine practically hummed as he nodded slightly in approval of his apprentice's forethought. "However this brings up another problem. The Wookiees cannot be too strong. I have plans for their race for after our ascension that require their… efforts, immediately."

Count Dooku didn't reply, he simply tilted his head slightly, indicating that he was awaiting Palpatine's further comments or instruction. He did not disappoint.

"We must move up our plans for the assault on their world. They must be made pliant prior to the end of this war. They cannot be seen as a bastion of strength for any outlaw Jedi. Nor do I want Kashyyyk to be a source of resistance after our ascension. I will not allow that possibility to exist," Palpatine stated in a voice was hard and implacable. "Further, we must decimate whatever unknown defenses they have immediately, otherwise I will not have the labor force needed for our long-term plans."

"I believe we could make arrangements to attack the wookiees," Count Dooku responded in a voice that was musing and far more urbane in response to his Master's harsh tone. "It won't be hard to sell the merits of such a campaign to General Grievous. The planet represents a target with at least some strategic value. And while they may have defenses to fight off a slaver attack, an invasion force is something else."

There was a pause before the Count followed up. His cultured voice was filled with curiosity. "What of the systems neighboring Kashyyyk? They would present a target after Kashyyyk is conquered. Should they be pacified as well?"

Palpatine shook his head, "No, we have accurate information on their defenses. Their fleets, what there are of them, are weak. They will pose us no trouble, nor do I want to give them further incentive yet to find ways to bulk up their defenses. We knew little of the wookiees and were certainly not expecting a complete repulsion of the slavers."

"Should we worry about the intervention or aid of any neighbors if we attack?" Dooku asked curiously.

Palpatine's voice turned soft and thoughtful, "No, the wookiees are proud and won't even consider asking for aid until it is nearly too late. The priority here is their defenses, they must be decimated."

"In this case it may just be best to occupy and take over the planet," observed Count Dooku.

Palpatine remained unmoving as he considered the prospect, "Perhaps. The Wookiees have few declared allies, none prepared to offer significant military support. The Jedi will try and help, further stretching themselves, and no doubt giving us further opportunity to thin their numbers."

Count Dooku nodded, "An invasion can be arranged, within twenty-four hours as a matter of fact. We were ahead of schedule in preparing a larger set of feints and attacks that we can repurpose for this."

"Do it," Palpatine commanded after several seconds of silent consideration, his voice taking on a harsh tone.

"Right now the Republic does not have the ships or manpower to lend military support in the event of an unfortunate Separatist attack upon Kashyyyk," Palpatine continued, his voice turning to sound saddened and sympathetic.

Count Dooku nodded, "And what of interference from the Jedi Order? Will I need to factor their presence into my plans?"

"As per the summary of the last full council meeting, the pathetic female Twi'lek Jedi Master is either en route or will be there before you arrive," Palpatine commented neutrally.

"What is she doing there?" asked Count Dooku, as his brow lowered in consideration of this information.

"The Order is attempting to find information on some… Force-using bounty hunter," Palpatine responded dismissively, amusement entering his voice.

"Aurra Sing? Why would she suddenly merit additional interest to the Council?" asked Count Dooku. He was well aware of the Jedi Order's concern with the former Jedi Padawan who had not only become a bounty hunter but had fallen somewhat to the Dark Side in the process. The girl certainly had a knack for taking down Jedi. He was also well aware that his Master made a point of facilitating her continued escapes from different prisons.

"No, some other bounty hunter. He apparently played some sort of trick on a pair of Jedi Masters. They have become determined to figure out how. There is even some suspicion that he is perhaps an acolyte of their dreaded Sith Lord who has influenced and perhaps seduced a poor lost padawan," Palpatine responded, a raspy chuckle escaping his throat.

"They continue to jump at shadows and chase gundarks in the darkness," Dooku observed, humor in his own voice.

"Of course they do. They remain completely ignorant to the dangers in their very own midst, and as I have foreseen, they will remain so until it is far too late," Palpatine said while a small chuckle escaped his throat, allowing himself a moment of pleasure.

"Do we anticipate further Jedi interference on Kashyyyk beyond her?" Dooku asked with a slight bob of his head that was the only acknowledgement of his Master's comment.

At that question, Palpatine actually smiled before replying, "I do not see it, though it cannot be entirely discounted. However, the Jedi Order now has more of its own problems. Problems that are only growing, though they do not yet realize it. And we are going to fan those flames."

Dooku tilted his head curiously waiting for his Master to expand upon his point. Sometimes it was better to let him come to his point in his own time.

"The trial of Ahsoka Tano and her actions afterward have given us a unique opportunity," Palpatine answered the unspoken question by once turning serious.

"I followed the trial. I expected her death to be quick. One more Jedi fallen." observed Dooku in a not-quite-question.

Palpatine resisted the urge to chuckle again. He had thought the exact same thing, and in fact had expected to use her as yet another nudge to help twist young Anakin Skywalker to the Dark Side.

While he had been very subtly and remotely a part of the downfall of the young Jedi Barriss Offee, subtle compulsions and nudges were certainly effective; the entire affair with Ahsoka Tano had been an unexpected, yet completely welcome gift from the Force itself. He had not expected the young Jedi to frame another Jedi so well, nor that the specific target was to be Ahsoka Tano.

Further, he had been carefully cultivating Anakin for years. At first it was just because he had arisen from nowhere and distinguished himself in the invasion of Naboo. Having good relations with a young publicly acknowledged hero was always good for public relations. As Anakin's strength grew he became a possible and unknowing mole in the Jedi Order. However, Palpatine realized that even that was not enough and he was looking at a Jedi whose powers could outstrip even his.

He considered it intervention from the Force that he had already begun to groom the boy to the Dark Side.

No matter what had happened with the trial, he had thought to play it to his advantage.

If the subhuman padawan had been found guilty, despite his provocative words at the trial, which allowed him to appear as a strong and decisive leader; he was going to step in quietly and overrule the decision afterward. Tarkin was fast tracked to promotion already and would support him, and they wouldn't make a public announcement. And the Jedi had no public relations specialists to worry about countering. Of course if they had any significant skill in that area, his ascension and manipulations would have added difficulty.

But stepping in and 'saving' Anakin's apprentice after the Jedi Council essentially refused to help her in any significant way would have gone a long way in cementing his hold over the young man. Especially if he told Anakin that he was doing it because he trusted the young man's belief and judgment. Sometimes, even as a Sith Lord in opposition to them, he honestly couldn't fathom what the leaders of Jedi Order were thinking when they acted in certain ways.

He knew his cloak of darkness had affected the Order's leadership and their ability to function, but the sheer incompetence they demonstrated more often than not surely couldn't be laid strictly at his own feet? Perhaps it was something in the water or air in that light-forsaken temple of theirs. Unfortunately he knew that wasn't the case as the temple water and food was thoroughly scanned for any type of foreign addition. Palpatine knew, he had explored the possibility before. The idea of a sickness spreading through the Jedi had been very tempting, he just couldn't figure out how to accomplish it whenever he had occasionally pondered the idea.

The humorous thought of such a thing was enough to further cement his plans to level the ancient structure at the first opportunity after his ascension.

If the judges had found the former padawan innocent, then he was going to imply to Anakin that it was some words on his behalf that helped tip the scales. Perhaps not quite as effective, but either way it would have helped his grip on the young and very powerful Jedi.

The subhuman's reaction after the trial had even helped him. She had refused re-entry into the Jedi Order, leaving her vulnerable.

Not that it would have mattered, he had planned to have her killed no matter what. Eliminating another positive influence in Anakin's life was necessary. If she had still been there she might have been an anchor for him to not give into his darker impulses. Unlikely... but still possible.

That she had voluntarily removed herself from his sphere of influence pleased Darth Sidious more than he could put into words. It made Anakin far more vulnerable and the Dark Lord planned to make use of that fact.

Anakin had privately confided his excitement in his padawan to Palpatine on numerous occasions. He believed she was close to being ready for the trials. When she became a Jedi he would have passed the final test and be named a Jedi Master, just like he had promised Qui-Gon Jinn, a Jedi Master, Sidious' own former apprentice had killed during the Battle of Naboo.

It was a point of pride for Anakin that he would be one of, if not the, youngest to achieve that rank in history.

Now with Ahsoka leaving the Order, he would be denied that honor, possibly for years if not longer, before he got another padawan and trained them up. While Palpatine was well aware that Anakin missed his former padawan, he knew in the back of the young man's mind he resented the lost opportunity for himself as well.

Palpatine had already plotted on how best to exploit that. He planned to act on it shortly. He would appoint Anakin to the High Council as his personal representative. It was one of those situations where there were no way to lose.

If the council gave Anakin that honor, and allowed him to join, the young man would be further indebted to Palpatine personally. If the young man asked it would be because he not only trusted him, and believed in him, but had shown himself far more competent than he believed many of the current Master's to be.

If they refused to allow him on the Council, then they would be setting up another public relations disaster. Palpatine would see that it leaked to the public that the Jedi Council was refusing to allow a Chancellor's representative, therefore the 'people's representative' on the council. Further they would be more upset when they learned it was Anakin, the Hero-Without-Fear who was being denied this great honor.

Finally, if they allowed him on because they were suspicious of the Chancellor, then they would hope to use Anakin to spy on him, a laughable idea. The boy couldn't act to save his life. He would be easily manipulated, but Palpatine also guessed that meant that they wouldn't give Anakin the title of Master. Something that would just be petty and insulting and further drive a wedge between the young man and the Order.

He had initially planned to wait until after a full out assault on Coruscant to do that, but after the recent failure of the slave raid on Kashyyyk, Palpatine had decided to move up his timetable and do that soon.

Not that he had any intention of telling his current apprentice that. Dooku could hardly know that Palpatine already had his successor, and likely executioner, chosen.

His attention turned back to the transmission before him, "After Ahsoka Tano escaped from Coruscant, she showed up on Nar Shaddaa. She was followed to the Hutt moon by that... Twi'lek Jedi."

The disgust for non-humans was completely unhidden in Palpatine's voice. "Their actions there upset a great many people. Powerful people."

"Oh?" Count Dooku asked, this was news to him.

"Yes, smuggler and slaver ships alike disappeared, complete with crew. Most of them were believed to be chasing the former Jedi that was just on trial. There's now quite the bounty on her head, placed by a great many individuals with no connection to our operations." Palpatine explained.

He left unsaid the constant frustration that a place like Nar Shaddaa presented to their information gathering network. All information had a price there, so little was shared freely. So many niggling problems were there, and so many people went there to disappear or remain inconspicuous or unnoticed.

Palpatine shook off those thoughts and smiled almost beatifically, "Almost every smuggler and slaver cartel out there has long been discontent with the Jedi Order. Frustrations are now at a boiling point. I want you to use this incident encourage things to boil over."

Count Dooku frowned, not quite following, and not ashamed to admit that he wasn't in this case. "Master?"

"There are several bounties out there on Ahsoka Tano and Aayla Secura, as well as Kenobi, Skywalker and several others. There are even more out there for dozens of lesser Jedi," Palpatine explained, not something he often had to do, but in this case Dooku needed the information to be the most effective possible tool.

"Encourage this. I want as many cartels, organizations, Hutts, or anyone else who has some resentment towards the Jedi Order to be encouraged to post bounties, go hunting or both. I want it to be risky for Jedi to be anywhere outside of direct Republic control."

He didn't mention that it just benefited him to focus on any Jedi with a close relationship with Skywalker. Palpatine wanted his ties to be burned. He knew that by mentioning those three specifically, Dooku would likely take his own initiative to focus the hunts on them. He was so terrifyingly efficient.

Count Dooku finally caught on. "So the Jedi are going to be hunted by hunters, smugglers and all sorts of assorted scum. Some of them will be good enough to capture or kill Jedi for the bounties. And a few others are bound to get lucky. Further reducing their ranks."

Palpatine shook his head slightly. "Yes, but those deaths are almost incidental. If you do this right, this way they are hunted everywhere they go. Any neutral, unaligned and even allied spaceports that are under local control becomes a possible death trap. Places where anyone could turn and try to capture themselves a bounty. Except places controlled by the Republic Military."

Realization dawned for Dooku, "So when we make our move against the Jedi, they will have already put themselves at our mercy. By their own choice, through no action of ours."

Palpatine nodded, "If necessary, put high bounties on them yourself, if various interests with grudges see that there is already a bounty out there, they will be encouraged to focus their efforts on hunting, or to put their own bounties up, only to make it higher."

"I will arrange it, Master," Count Dooku said as he grinned slowly. He had no problem putting bounties on Jedi, something he should have considered a long time ago. He had unmatched wealth, and this war was actually helping fill the coffers of his fortune so he had no concerns. It was entirely possible he would get a Jedi delivered to him without having to exert any effort on his own.

Palpatine's voice once more filled with fake sadness and regret, "I will of course will attempt to reach out and make contact with the individuals who placed the bounties. But… I'm afraid my negotiations with private citizens and what they do with their money are going to fail in this case, especially when they are outside of the Republic's influence."

"Perhaps all the more reason the Senate should consider granting you more emergency authority," Dooku responded with a nod, his expression serious once more.

Palpatine nodded, but his expression turned more serious as he was reminded of other information he had received that needed dealt with. "I also have one more… minor problem. I'm sending you information on it right now. I want whoever this is alive. I need to know who they are, why they're looking around, and where they got the information in the first place. I need it handled by your best."

Palpatine's voice was grave, as he pressed several buttons on his chair sending a file from a private personal datapad he carried into the call.

Count Dooku did not respond immediately, merely raising an eyebrow as he perused the file that was just sent to him.

"Nar Shaddaa…" He mused as he read through the file. "Does this have anything to do with the former padawan's presence there?"

Palpatine hesitated, the same thought had occurred to him. However this situation had arisen after they had apparently left the planet. If they had somehow dug that deeply into his knowledge there is no way they'd have left. "The thought can't be entirely discounted, but I doubt it. This is a slicer of high skill."

Dooku nodded in acceptance as he considered what he was reading, "If I send any acolytes, they will be hindered if we're pushing sentiment and bounties against the Jedi. None of them have distinguished themselves significantly enough for me to have faith in any of their abilities. The riff raff hardly know the difference and may believe they are fair game."

Palpatine's eyes narrowed at the excuse his apprentice was making. "What is your point?"

Count Dooku didn't hesitate despite the anger on his Master's face. "I'm simply asking which is the priority here. If I need to, I can send some of the disposable ones in with a few squadrons of droids and leave nothing behind, or I can wait to post the bounty until after the mission."

Palpatine relaxed slightly. Dooku was arrogant but he was also supremely gifted at strategy. Just not as good as Palpatine himself. However that didn't stop Palpatine from accepting input. After all Dooku had made a fair point.

"No, we must strike while the iron is hot against the Jedi. Help set them up for their fall. A two bit slicer definitely falls lower in priority," Palpatine allowed, he didn't like doing so, but he saw the necessity of it. The window to stoke the flames of discontent would only last for a limited time.

Dooku nodded, "Very well, I will begin to fan the flames of the bounties. Our landing force should make landfall on Kashyyyk within the day."

After a few moment's silence, Dooku began to speak again, "I may have another suggestion for dealing with the slicer."

"Oh?" Palpatine inquired.

"We need someone more skilled, than the acolyte riff raff, if they hope to dodge bounty hunters and get what we're looking for," Dooku stated, his tone slightly cautious as he spoke to his master.

"Who did you have in mind?" The supreme chancellor inquired.

"Ventress," Dooku replied shortly, a slight note of hesitation in his voice. After all his Master had ordered her killed.

"Ah yes, your former apprentice. The same one that you failed to kill," Palpatine replied, his voice sharp, but there was a trace of mocking in his voice.

"She survived the test. All the more testament to her skill and power," Dooku replied. "And she has only grown more so since then. But she lacks… direction."

"I told you she was becoming too powerful. That was part of the reason we wanted to be rid of her," he replied shortly.

"Yes. I'm aware. But as I said before she is not too powerful that she cannot be controlled. Her mind still searches for all the things that ultimately make it easy to keep her on a leash. And if she slips that leash, then I will kill her personally," Dooku replied, his voice coaxing. "No more third party failures to account for."

Palpatine steepled his fingers as he considered his apprentice's proposal. He had to admit Dooku had a point. Having Ventress out there as a wild card while he pushed up plans against the Jedi might be problematic. At the same time he was aware of his apprentice's belief in the angry young woman and her potential.

He also knew something the Jedi never seemed to figure out. Apprentices needed more freedom to make their own mistakes. Especially one of the age and experience of Dooku. If he started to chafe too much at the direction he was given that could also cause problems.

"The last I knew, she was on Coruscant. How do you plan to get her back?" Palpatine inquired. It was true, she had been on the planet during the trial with Ahsoka, where Anakin had hunted her down after Ahsoka was seen conspiring with her.

"She will be coming to me shortly," The Count replied confidently.

Palpatine didn't reply immediately, but he believed his apprentice's statement.

"And if I have your position to take her on as my apprentice once more, and then I will send her after this slicer, as she would have the skill to survive despite the obstacles put in her path." Dooku added after taking his Master's silence for permission to continue.

"And if I don't give permission?" Palpatine asked quietly after having let the pause extend for nearly a minute.

"Then I will kill her personally when she confronts me," Dooku replied easily with a dismissive shrug.

The primary Dark Lord considered that, tapping his fingers together as consequences of the action were pondered. He was awfully tempted to have Dooku kill Ventress immediately. She could pose a legitimate threat to his endgame. But at the moment, none of their other potential acolytes in training was anywhere close to ready for an important mission, much less a mission of this scale. And Palpatine really wanted to know why the slicer was attempting to search for some of those terms. Where he might have found the information and, just as importantly, why?

"Very well," The Dark Lord agreed shortly. "You may take her back, provided you can control her, but I hold you responsible for her actions. If she becomes a threat, or looks to be a liability, I expect you to dispose of her permanently."

Dooku nodded his head in acknowledgement, "She will agree to serve me once more or she will die."

"And the slicer?" Palpatine asked.

"Ventress should be able to evade or destroy any simple bounty hunters that get in her way. I'll also send several other operatives if for no other reason than to season them or weed them out." Count Dooku stated easily.

Palpatine regarded Dooku evenly, the statement he just made directly counter to the concern he expressed for Ventress' life when fanning the flames against Jedi.

A ghost of a smile crossed over Dooku's face at the unspoken question. "If she allows some bounty hunter rabble to capture her then she is quite obviously not good enough to be Sith."

"Good. I want that slicer alive. And I want what he knows and just as importantly, how. Do not fail me, My apprentice." Palpatine said before disconnecting the holocom, the protocols to completely wipe any trace of the conversation from the various systems connected to his office already and automatically engaged the moment he disconnected the call.

Palpatine sat back in his chair and considered his actions once more. He sighed as he ran the different actions in his mind. A giant game of chess requiring pieces be in certain places and fall in certain orders. He allowed a troubled look to briefly cross his face.

His former Master, Darth Plagueis, had long taught him the art of maintaining a cloak of darkness that hide him from his enemies. He had also shown him how to hide his activities from the Jedi. His master had applied the ability to distort and tamper with the Jedi's ability to seek guidance from the Force on such a limited range and on such a small scale.

He had only been interested in hiding his research, experiments and presence. Palpatine had truly thought big, and extended the ability and blanketed the Force with darkness. The entire Jedi Order was impacted, all of them had lost their ability to get any but the murkiest glimpses of the Force. Only someone who was willing to embrace the darkness would have a chance of seeing something through the shroud. That effectively eliminated the Jedi Order.

The more success he had with driving Jedi to their deaths with his plots, the more powerful his ability to hide became.

But now, something had changed. His visions, which had been so certain for so long, had been somewhat cloudy these past few days, and were certainly nowhere near as clear as they had been over the past thirty years.

It wasn't unprecedented. His cloak had occasionally shifted, and even faltered over the past two decades, as distant plots were sometimes foiled by happenstance. However, this time, his ability to prepare for a certain future while obscuring his enemies' sight had done more than falter, it had stumbled and forced him to take a knee.

It was also not unprecedented. It had happened a few times in the past few decades. Two of the most notable occasions were during the invasion of Naboo and the kidnapping of Jabba the Hutt's son.

In the former situation, Palpatine had intended for the Trade Federation to take the planet and force the peace treaty. Then he had planned to use that sympathy to put pressure on the sitting Chancellor Vellorum, setting him up for a fall.

He had not foreseen the Queen's escape from the planet or her arrival on Coruscant. But it could not have worked out better for him. Her emotional appeal to the Senate had pushed the sympathy far beyond what he initially imagined possible and had removed Vellorum from his position entirely.

In the second situation, he had intended for Jabba's son to die, making the Outer Rims a perilous place for the Jedi and the New Republic. His apprentice had even set the Jedi up to look responsible for it.

Unfortunately, young Anakin's intervention had saved the crime lord worm's son. This had strengthened the Jedi's abilities to move their armies through the Hutt's territories.

However, that had lead to advantages for the Sith. The Republic's presence in the Outer Rim territories had always been weak at best. Even with Jabba's permission others were not as pleased to have armies moving through their territory. They felt the need to put their nose into business that would have gone unnoticed before, inflaming discontent.

It had also been responsible for several dozen skirmishes on different planets between Separatists and Republic forces, those skirmishes had resulted in further drain on Republic resources as well as a number of Jedi deaths, further weakening the Order.

So even occasionally missteps in interpreting the will of the Force still helped move toward his ultimate goals.

Palpatine could even pinpoint the moment it had begun this time. It was directly after Tano's trial and her refusal to re-enter the Order. It also coincided with the odd disturbances in the Force that were apparently done in close proximity to her before she left the planet.

However, this in of itself wasn't something to cause him to overly worry about the long-term implications.

In the past the same thing had happened when more esoteric Force users encountered Jedi. Usually they were someone with a trick or two, who didn't even realize they were using the Force, and if they had been spotted as a child would have been trained. Without it, the Force amounted to bouts of luck that would help them in one way or another in specific circumstances.

He chuckled darkly. The Jedi were always surprised when their attempts to keep tabs on people like that were stymied. Reports regularly were given about people disappearing. It wasn't inaccurate, the people did disappear. Occasionally on their own, but usually, Palpatine made them disappear so that he could have access to their abilities. He experimented remotely, determined to understand the different ways the Force manifested, and also determined to replicate his former Master's experiments and attempts to defeat Death.

That was the ultimate challenge for the man who called himself Darth Sidious. He would take his Master's work one step further and utterly master Death on every level. He had already taken several steps to ensure his survival, delving deep into tattered histories and manuscripts of the Sith in order to find the appropriate ideas. Most of the time he found half-formed or half missing rituals. He had then applied his own knowledge and command of the Force to take the final steps.

So he had taken all the knowledge he could acquire from as many different sources as he could find, living or dead. Palpatine felt the Force itself was behind his quest, for some of the breaks and knowledge sources he had acquired had at times seemed to literally fall into his lap.

That is why he was not worried about occasional issues. The Force itself supported his quest to rule rather than remain weak as the Jedi Order seemed intent on. In fact, the little bursts in the Force had just drawn his attention to events, practically inviting him to use his brilliant tactical mind to use them to further his own cause.

Palpatine was content. He knew that the future, he had seen it.

The Jedi Order would fall.

The Republic would fall.

The Sith would usher in a new age, have their revenge on the Jedi for the defeat so long ago, and they would reign supreme.

ooOoOOoOoo

Ahsoka woke up with a start. She wasn't sure what had woken her up so abruptly but was left with an odd feeling from whatever images had entered her sleep. She tried to identify the odd feeling the images had left her with. It was like the sensing of the coming of a storm, still distant, but now very much on the horizon and heading in her direction.

She looked around quickly, re-adjusting to her surroundings. She was laying in one of the most comfortable beds she'd ever laid in. The beds at the Jedi Temple were always flat and uncomfortable. It was always about a Jedi not giving into distractions and overcoming them. The less said about the bunks on the different capital ships she seemed to spend her recent life on, the better.

This bed was completely the opposite, it was fluffy and Ahsoka actually found herself enjoying just laying there. She honestly wondered why she had been given a bed like that and Harry had face planted on a cot out in the main area. She was also very interested in the various ways the Force seemed to be… embedded into the mattress, for lack of a better way to describe the effect of how it seemed to naturally flow underneath her.

The bed was in a corner of Harry's house. On two sides were walls of the house, on the other two sides, the room was boarded by bookshelves that rose up quite high. There was a small gap where both bookcases came close that functioned as an entrance. Ahsoka looked over and saw that Aayla was in the second bed in the area a few feet away and was still asleep.

Ahsoka was certain the Rutian Jedi was still asleep. Judging by the way she was naked and sprawled across the bed, quite blatantly on display, she definitely was not awake. That brought a blush to Ahsoka's cheeks as she saw the rather unintentionally lewd display that would likely mortify the older woman if she knew Ahsoka was staring at her like this. Then she blushed further wondering if Harry had been having more of an effect on her than she expected.

She also cursed her own development in comparison with the older Twi'lek's prominent display of maturity. Ahsoka was definitely a late bloomer, though the past year had definitely seen her body blossoming, but nowhere near on the scale of the Twi'lek who was a little over a decade her senior. Despite this, she found herself somewhat self-conscious of that fact more and more of late, wholly opposite to the fact the Jedi had drilled into her as a child that appearances meant nothing in the study of the Force. She herself wasn't naked like her far more aloof roommate, but was in a long plain white shirt.

She hadn't initially intended to sleep in just the single garment, but when Dobby had guided her to bed he had told her if she left her things out, he would clean them and return them. Considering that she had been wearing the same outfit for several days, she was going to jump at the opportunity, but wasn't so sure about sleeping completely in the nude.

Dobby had either been prepared for this or was very perceptive as he offered a what he called a "nightshirt" to her. The shirt was just a very long shirt which fell to her thighs and preserved her modesty. A glance at the bedside table showed her normal outfit folded and waiting, and definitely looking clean.

A glance over at the bed Aayla lay sprawled across showed her that Aayla's clothes were also on the table beside the bed, but it also appeared that a long folded nightshirt was there as well. Apparently she had eschewed the offer of the shirt, and Dobby had left it there just in case. Ahsoka belatedly realized Aayla likely had ignored the shirt because her head likely wouldn't fit through the hole at the top. Ahsoka recognized the same fact, and instead simply ripped the top open so her head could easily poke through.

She realized with a glance around that it was still dim in the area and that she had no idea if it was day or night. The dim light provided by the blue flames and absolutely no light from the system's star was very disorienting. With her duties to the Republic taking her to many worlds, she found her body easily able to adapt to worlds that ran on something other than galactic standard. Her sleep schedule was very flexible, but she usually had something to tune it to. Down here she had no such luxury.

She wasn't surprised that she had woken up before Aayla. Aayla had stayed up later than she had looking around the place, though they hadn't found anything more interesting than the portraits in the study room. Ahsoka had been firmly put off looking around when she'd opened one of the books at random off the shelves and it had screamed at her.

Dobby had arrived and scolded her for messing with that particular book. The effect of the scolding was somewhat limited by the multiple hats seemingly chosen at random that were perched on his head. But she had promised not to touch anything else. She had Dobby guide her to her bed shortly after.

Ahsoka laid back on the pillows and looked up at the dark ceiling. She was reluctant to get up. Part of it was because she didn't want to get up out of the comfortable bed, the other part was that she was able to use the time to continue to sort her memories. Of course sorting the memories as Harry had instructed her brought to the forefront of her mind so many questions she had, most of them about Harry Potter.

Every time they gained a bit more information on Harry, it only seemed to make her think of more questions for him, none of which ever seem to be answered. He never lied from what she could tell thus far, and Ahsoka had to admit that she hadn't really pressed him about himself. She had been far more intrigued by magic and what Harry could do.

The paintings of the two dead women were also among the strangest things she had witnessed in her life. Their mere existence flew in the face of every tenet of the Jedi Code that had been pounded into her mind since the age of three.

Not their existence. They seemed to be very similar to holocrons, organic crystal lattices that stored a great amount of data and could be used for instruction that seemed to contain the personality and experiences of former Jedi Masters.

Ahsoka hadn't pressed on his history because she had been respectful. Taking what he volunteered. But new detail revealed, rather than adding more pieces to a puzzle seemed to keep expanding and jumbling said puzzle.

It wasn't what the paintings were, it was what they represented.

Mourning the Dead: against the Jedi code.

Keeping visible and prominent keepsakes of the dead: against the code.

Blaming yourself for not stopping the deaths of others: against the code.

The act of Marriage itself: against the code. Though she knew exceptions had been made.

And yet, Ahsoka felt no danger or suspicion that Harry was in any danger of going down the path of the Dark side. She'd easily admit, his abilities frightened her, and the casual way which Dobby admitted to executing an entire ship's worth of slavers was more than slightly disturbing.

But, none of them had ever demonstrated any other behavior which would signal their possible fall. The two of them exuded a certain ruthlessness with criminals, but that in of itself did not lend oneself to falling to the dark side, especially as neither had broken any laws yet.

Then there was his constant taunts and borderline harassment of Aayla. He seemed to anticipate and savor each opportunity to tease and needle her former colleague and apparently still friend. The few times she had actually witnessed Aayla 'fight back', Ahsoka didn't think she'd seen Harry act happier.

At least she now knew where the behavior came from. The girl in the painting with the pink hair had to be the biggest flirt she'd ever witnessed. She seemed to have no shame at all. Ahsoka had no doubt that both her and Aayla would be fending off suggestive taunts and innuendo from both Harry and Tonks if the woman had still been alive today.

Ahsoka sighed, she had sorted the majority of her memories. All of them really, except for the events of the past few weeks starting with the horrifying accusations of treason and up to the present. She would go through them, she just wasn't ready yet. She knew that it was likely causing her further emotional grief to not properly deal with her emotions tied to recent events, especially with the tools Harry had provided her, but it was just something she was not quite ready to face yet.

She heaved herself from the bed with a trace of reluctance and quickly dressed, marveling in the feel of a clean outfit. Before she finally made her way out to the main area. A glance toward Harry's cot where he had lain, insensate whenever they had passed in the vicinity the night before told her he was already up and moving.

It didn't take long to find him.

There were two large piles of small boxes. One was neat and orderly in carefully maintained stacks. The other was like a small mountain of jumbled boxes.

Between the two piles was a large trunk. Harry was currently half in half out of a trunk while talking with Dobby. Dobby was now wearing a completely different outfit, one with black pants and a jacket, with a pure white shirt beneath the coat. He had some sort of stick in his fingers, only the stick had several large grey feathers sprouting from the end of it. He was also wearing a black flat topped hat.

At the moment of Ahsoka's approach he was shaking his head so vigorously the hat was literally spinning around on his head. "This not be Dobby's fault. Master Harry Potter should have organized his luggage better."

"It _was_ organized, when it was last re-packed like forever ago! When we first moved into that manor!" Harry's voice echoed from the trunk as he huffed in irritation. "Not my fault how much garbage got thrown on top since then."

"Master Harry should have take Dobby's advice and reorganized when he was putting everything he owned into them," Dobby said as he shook the feather duster in his hand in remonstration.

"Dobby, I was just taking every single thing I possessed and could claim ownership to. I didn't really want to take the time to organize it all.," Harry sighed and lifted out of the trunk. "There was a slight concern as to 'time' when I was doing that."

"There be no concern for time. Master Harry was just grumpy," Dobby harrumphed loudly. "And Master Harry wouldn't let Dobby organize before we left. Like extra day would have mattered."

"Dobby…" Harry said, his voice holding a tinge of irritation and resignation.

"Mistress Daphy right about Master Harry Potter when she say organization not Master Harry's strong suit," Dobby added with a smug smirk.

"Okay, I promise Dobby, next time we pack everything up, if for some reason, we're not in a hurry. I'll let you take time to organize everything for our trip. Fair enough?" Harry said sarcastically sat back and shut the trunk firmly.

Dobby scowled at Harry as if determining his seriousness before nodding. "Dobby will hold Master Harry to that!"

"Dobby… you haven't called me Master so much in years. Would you please go back to calling me Harry?" Harry requested with a sigh and waved his hand at the trunk and it shrunk to the size of all the other little boxes in the area.

"Master Harry said that was because Dobby the only one alive who called him Master, so Dobby shouldn't. But now Miss Soaky calls him Master, so Dobby can call Master Harry Potter, Master again!" The little house elf bobbed slightly, his chin lifted in a stubborn tilt.

Harry sighed in resignation, resisting the urge to bang his head against a convenient hard surface deciding it wasn't worth arguing at the moment as he picked up the shrunken trunk in his hands. He knew he could order Dobby to and the being would stop, but Harry tried to keep orders to an absolute minimum, and usually only had them to avoid chaos. The less orders he gave Dobby the more he felt Dobby was able to be himself.

"All of this is potion books, mostly beginning and intermediate, basic follow instructions types. The rest are duplicates of what are already on the shelves. I should really get through sorting that at some point."

He handed the trunk to Dobby. "Not really a priority though. Our back garden isn't that big yet and we're not really going to waste supplies on some of the potions, especially since I have a fairly comprehensive stock… or three..." He trailed off uncertainly looking at the large pile of trunks.

Dobby dutifully took the trunk, and attached a white strip to it, before using the non feathered end of the stick he was holding to write on the label before meticulously adding it to the organized pile of trunks.

Harry randomly summoned another trunk from the large unorganized pile to him. Of course it was one of the ones from the middle which caused a small avalanche in the unorganized pile as half the trunks seemed to shift while several tumble down the miniature mountain. Harry seemed oblivious to it as he grabbed the trunk and then glanced up to see Ahsoka looking at him. "Hey! good morning! Or… whatever it is. Did you get enough sleep?"

"Yeah, I got plenty of sleep," Ahsoka agreed with a nod, "What about you?"

Harry nodded absently as he set the small box on the floor, "I slept just fine, it had been awhile so I was pretty tired."

Before Ahsoka could ask about that comment when Harry enlarged the trunk and popped it open. "If you want breakfast, just ask Dobby, he'll get you some."

Ahsoka nodded almost absently at the idea of breakfast, but was more interested in figuring out what Harry was up to. "What are you doing?"

Harry was half in the trunk for a few moments before pulling back. "Bah, this is all the gaudy jewelry from the Black family."

Harry shut the trunk in disgust. "Buncha ostentatious inbred idiots," He shrunk the trunk and tossed it negligently over his shoulder to Dobby who caught it. A label appeared on it a moment later, and Dobby added it to one of the ordered stacks.

Harry summoned another trunk, causing another mini-avalanche in the trunk mountain and unshrunk it.

Ahsoka watched the action and casual use of magic, and repeated herself. "What are you looking for?"

"I'm looking for…" Harry began to reply absently, before he opened the trunk and then pulled back, a look of supreme triumph on his face, "This!"

He opened the lid of the trunk completely and spun it around on the ground to show Ahsoka.

Ahsoka blinked twice, inside of the trunk was a ladder and what seemed like a very deep room surrounded by boxes. The room was so deep she couldn't see the bottom of the ladder in the dim light of Harry's house.

Ahsoka blinked again and ventured carefully, "Um. That's great? What… is it?"

"Well, I'm hoping that one of the wands in here is a good match for you. So I can start teaching you!" Harry responded as he chuckled softly.

"Oh!" blurted Ahsoka looking surprised and then pleased, before a worried look manifested on her face. "What if one of them doesn't?"

"Let's… cross that bridge if and when we get there," Harry commented as he grimaced slightly at the idea.

Ahsoka looked worried by the response and then nodded, deciding not to press it at the moment. "How… will you know when one of the wands is a match?

Harry grimace was replaced with a wide grin. "You'll see!"

That grin definitely did not do much to fill Ahsoka with confidence.

Harry hopped over the side of the trunk and onto the ladder, scrambling down several rungs before he stopped and then climbed back up a few to pop his head over the edge of the trunk and fix Dobby with a look. "Dobby we're working with unmatched wands. You're on cleanup duty!"

Dobby sighed a little bit and then clicked his fingers and floated the organized trunks away from the trunk Harry was currently submerged in.

A few moments later, Harry popped his head back up with a box. He opened it up and inside was a wand. He took it carefully out of the box and held it handle first to Ahsoka.

After only a moment of hesitation Ahsoka Tano took the wand in her hand and then stood there with a puzzled expression. She turned to Harry with a confused look, unsure of what to do.

Harry waited a second and then gestured, amusement filling his voice. "Well go on, give it a wave!" Only to immediately dive into the trunk when she waved it.

Unfortunately she was facing in his direction when she waved the wand. A ball of light immediately shot out of the tip of the wand, passed through the space Harry's head had just been in and impacted the far wall, tearing a large chunk out of it and causing a near thunderous detonation.

Ahsoka stared opened mouth at the destruction. She had felt an involuntary surge of Force flow through the wand when she had waved it. But whatever result she was expecting it certainly wasn't that.

"What's the big idea?!" Harry groused when he hesitantly lifted his head from the trunk turning to look from Ahsoka toward the hole in the wall not far off.

Aayla came rushing out into the area, lightsaber in her hand though not ignited. Ahsoka was impressed that she had taken the time to throw on the long nightshirt Dobby had left next to the bed. The idea of watching Harry unabashedly stare at her friend while naked briefly occurred to her, more from the argument between the two that would likely ensue which she would have a front-row seat.

The nightshirt fell to Aayla's upper thighs. Her modesty was protected but the shirt did show a remarkable expanse of long blue legs, and she definitely saw Harry's eyes trace the legs and an appreciative smirk appear on his lips. She felt a slight surge of jealousy, but thankfully any comment he was going to make was cut off by Aayla.

"What's going on? Are we under attack?" Aayla demanded looking all around for signs of attack, her lightsaber held at the ready.

"Only if you count Ahsoka trying to blast my head from my shoulders." Harry replied grumpily, patting his hair for show, his comment about Aayla's clothing diverted by Aayla's insistent question.

"You said give it a wave!" Ahsoka protested loudly. She was carefully holding the wand, trying not to move her arm, not wanting another bolt to happen.

"Not at me!" Harry replied with a huff.

"Well then maybe you should be a bit more clear in your instruction, _Master,_" Ahsoka responded in a patronizing tone.

Harry rolled his eyes and snatched the wand from her still unmoving hand.

"What is going on here?!" Aayla demanded loudly; though her stance had become less defensive based on Harry's and Ahsoka's reaction.

Harry looked her way and smiled innocently, though his eyes once more flicked to her legs, "Morning, Blue. Sleep well?"

"I slept fine," Aayla replied shortly, a faint blush on her cheeks, not unaware of his eyes on her legs, "Now what is going on?"

"Ahsoka's really inexperienced with handling wands," Harry replied with an absolutely guileless expression. "I'm sure she'll get better with practice. It's normal for first timers."

"Right now, she isn't getting very consistent results to erupt from the shafts with her technique," Harry was grinning even wider, doing everything but outright laughing at her as he spoke, while Ahsoka just rolled her eyes in a bit of exasperation.

Aayla didn't bother responding, she just rolled her eyes as well, mirroring Ahsoka a few moments earlier, "I'll ask again, Harry. What are you two doing?"

"We're matching wands to Ahsoka. It's good you're up! Or I might lose this damn trunk again." Harry replied, his expression still bright and not looking bothered at all by the irritation in the Twi'lek's expression.

"Master Harry will nots be losing trunks. Dobby be labeling." Dobby scolded waving his feather duster threateningly.

Harry nodded and then seemed to get more serious once more as he examined the wall where Ahsoka's blast had impacted. He looked thoughtful as he examined the hole before coming to a decision. "Hm. Slight change of plans."

"What? I thought we were getting me a wand?" Ahsoka sounded confused and more than a little disappointed.

Harry nodded agreeably, "Yes, but we're going to move outside, otherwise fixing the damage you two cause will take more than a spell or two. And if you forget and absently wave toward my potions lab, or if the wand doesn't behave directionally in response to a wave, I am not sure what the result could be. So I'd rather be safe than sorry. Especially since I'm rather partial to this planet. I'd hate to be responsible for splitting it in half."

At the shocked looks on their faces, Harry waved his hand. "I'm joking. Nothing in the potions lab should that destructive… no matter how it's mixed or what magic is applied to it... I think," Harry trailed off uncertainly. "Sometimes you never can tell how mixtures are going to work out though. You'd be surprised what Neville managed, even as an adult."

"C'mon. Outside," Harry ordered as he climbed out of the trunk and levitated it behind him toward the door.

Ahsoka followed him quickly, and Aayla took one step before remembering where she was. "I'll join you in a minute, I'm going to go put on my normal clothes."

Harry glanced back, once more his eyes flicking to her legs before grinning impishly, "Oh, no need to change on my account! Besides, it's not like that shows much more than you normally wear… just different areas."

Aayla didn't say anything in response to Harry's teasing but Ahsoka was sure that the way she stalked off meant that Harry had won that round.

He watched her leave, with an amused grin before he shrugged unconcerned, and continued outside to the steps of the flat front porch, with Ahsoka right behind him. She looked around and was a bit disoriented. The outside of the house was basically lit the same way as the inside of the house, with no sunlight or anything this deep in Kashyyyk's forest, the only thing that lit the area were the odd blue flames.

Harry set the trunk down and then sat on the of the trunk for a moment before he called out, "Dobby? How about trying to limit their damage?"

The diminutive being appeared, looking around before nodding in approval. This time he was dressed up in an entirely different outfit. Ahsoka saw that he seemed to be wearing some sort of armor. It had a padded chest guard that was easily as big as Dobby so it dragged on the ground as he stood. His legs had greaves that seemed to be hard plastic. He had a mask that had metal bars over it with a space in the center for his eyes to see out of. And on one of his hands was a thick looking glove that he opened and closed repeatedly.

Harry stared at the outfit for a second and just shook his head. "Nope. Not going to ask why you have that or where you got it."

"If Master Harry going to be trying wands, Dobby try to catch!" The house elf looked pleased with himself. "That way Master Harry not have repeat of Buckypig Palace incident."

"Buck_ingham." _Harry corrected. "That was _one_ time. The queen insisted we try wands there. Even she agreed… it was not my fault." Harry shook his head not looking back.

"Didn't stop Dobby from having to ask for help from other house elves to clean up!" Dobby replied, sounding horrified at the remembrance.

"It had to be done fast." Harry replied before turning away and ignoring the house elf's little 'hmph' of displeasure. he refocused on Ahsoka who was watching the entire interaction in amusement.

"Okay, this time when you wave your wand, just wave away from the house." Harry said before clambering down the ladder in the trunk. A moment later he climbed back up and fixed Ahsoka with a look. "And please don't wave it in my direction either."

Ahsoka's embarrassed expression faded and she blurted out "Harry!" It was effective in stopping him from climbing back down the ladder as he looked at her with an inquisitively raised eyebrow.

"Can you explain what is happening so I understand?" Ahsoka asked quietly, her attention being diverted momentarily by Aayla coming out of the house, once more dressed in her standard black leather.

Harry looked put out for a moment, understanding what was happening during a wand matching, taking some of the fun out of it in his opinion. But he nodded a little bit, understanding her desire to know. "Sure. I'm going to try and find you a wand that matches you best."

"You've mentioned that before," Ahsoka replied with a hint of exasperation on her face, "But I don't understand what it means."

"Each wand is different. They are made up of different lengths of wood that each tend to have different properties, and each has a core that contains a magical focus. Most of them are different pieces of magical animals," Harry explained patiently, his tone slipping into that of a well versed teacher. "The combinations provide different effects and attunements, and react differently to different people's magic. Even wands that are identical, made of the same wood, same type of core and are the same length can have wildly different properties."

"Why?" Ahsoka asked as she considered what Harry was saying.

"To be honest, I don't know. In one of my many many discussions with a man named Garrick Ollivander, who was the person I learned wand making from initially, he told me that wands were just like people," Seeing the looks on both Aayla and Ahsoka's face Harry hastened to explain. "They're not sentient… at least not in a way you might expect. But… like people they are more than the sum of their parts. Each has its own personality and its own strengths. The trick is finding a match between a person's magic and personality and that of a wand."

"I don't understand why we need a stick at all." Aayla said with a dubious look on her face. "I mean, we don't use a stick to use the Force, and we've seen you do things without one."

"It's a wand," Harry replied with a mock offended voice.

"Oh! Harry, you should do the light and water demonstration for her!" Ahsoka said practically bouncing with a mischievous grin on her face.

"Okay, one second." Harry grimaced a little bit at the suggestion but conceded that Ahsoka had a point. She secretly wondered if he was disappointed he wasn't going to be soaking Aayla while she had on the white night-shirt Dobby had provided her.

He raised his voice and called out "Dobby! Can you get one of my wands?"

"I thought you carried your wand on you," Ahsoka observed, with a hint of puzzlement.

There was a pop and then a moment later a wand appeared in Harry's outstretched hand. A fond look appeared on Harry's face as he felt the familiar connection. Before he turned to Ahsoka. "I do, but the crappy wand I was using was destroyed during the fight."

"If it was a crappy wand, why were you using it?" Ahsoka asked.

"Poor choice of words." Harry replied with a grimace. "It wasn't so much crappy as it was poorly matched for me."

"If matching is as important as you're saying, why were you using it then?" Aayla spoke up this time curious despite herself.

"Because it was the first wand that was even a partial match for me that I made successfully from materials that weren't found on my homeworld. But I'm still figuring out different types of wood while my search for magical creatures has been only minimally successful." Harry sighed a little bit. "Unfortunately because it was a poor match, I pushed too much magic through it and it burnt out. Which is why I was so limited and ineffective in the fight yesterday. I should have just tossed the wand and cut loose, but I didn't stop and rethink my priorities."

That statement hung in the air for several long moments as both Aayla and Ahsoka pondered the statement, wondering if that was how he defined ineffective, what exactly effective and not limited might look like from Harry.

"This wand," Harry continued after a moment holding up the polished dark piece that had dropped into his hand, "Isn't my first wand, but it's one that I've had for a very long time. It's one of a few that I have that is matched to my magic. Because it was a good match it would take a phenomenal amount of power poured through it in a very short time to burn through it like the one yesterday."

"I still don't understand the reason for the wands at all," Aayla responded after a pregnant pause. "Why use them at all if they're not necessary?"

"Well... part of it is that it helps focus and train your magic, it helps focus on the finer points of manipulation..." Harry said, "But it's also about the noise it makes."

"Show her, like you showed me Harry!" Ahsoka grinned and bounced in excitement. Harry just smiled in bemusement.

Aayla was surprised at Ahsoka's excitement, but since it was Ahsoka and not Harry that was so excited her suspicions weren't raised.

Twenty minutes later, after the demonstration she was alternating between glaring at Harry and glaring at Ahsoka. The demonstration had been fascinating especially since Aayla could feel the difference based on the amount of Force... or magic used. She was far less pleased when Harry had drenched her in water and Ahsoka had immediately dissolved into giggles.

Harry had left her standing there and glaring blaster bolts at them both for a full ten seconds before he had dried her off with a wave of her hand. It was an interesting experience of being wrapped in the Force and warmed up. She found it familiar after feeling it while falling through the air in the battle the previous day. The feeling of the energies of the Force that surrounded her was uniquely Harry.

"And that is why we use wands." Harry stated with simple finality before he climbed back into the trunk.

Ahsoka leaned forward and watch him grab a box seemingly at random before he opened it up and took the wand out, handing it to her gently. She took it from him carefully and remembering what happened earlier, deliberately turned away from him and waved the wand in front of her. This time rather than a ball of energy shooting from the wand, a piece of ground, about a meter in diameter broke away and shot like a canon vertically into the sky.

Harry tilted his head back and watched silently as the piece disappeared from sight into the darkness of the trees above.

"Nope." He snatched the wand away and after a glance at Aayla shook his head and put it back in its box.

"Let's see what else we have." Harry descended into the trunk once more. It was several minutes later when he climbed back up, and when he did he carried an additional ten boxes.

"I made wands as a hobby for awhile. I got really good at making the wands, especially wands with more exotic cores. Unfortunately, that did not translate into an ability to actually match wands with a potential owner." Harry shook his head a little bit. "I honestly have no idea how old man Ollivander matched people up to wands so quickly."

Harry chuckled as he set all the boxes on the edge of the trunk. "I subbed for him once while he went on a two week vacation during the middle of the year. In two weeks I had maybe a dozen customers. Took me hours to find all but one of them a right match. Though one of them only took about five minutes."

"So, basically I'm just flying by the seat of my pants here." He opened a box that was orange, with more of the unfamiliar writing of his homeworld that neither Aayla or Ahsoka recognized.

"This wand belonged to a friend of mine." Harry said, getting a fond look on his face as his eyes seemed to stare at something far away. "He was a bit shy to start, though I think most of us were in the beginning."

Ahsoka coughed slightly to cover a snicker at the idea of Harry as shy.

"But in the end, he had the heart of a lion," Harry said, his eyes being drawn to the blank looks of incomprehension on his audience. He shook his head slightly. "It's an animal on my homeworld that was believed to be a symbol for courage. Thus... the heart of a lion, a courageous heart."

"His name was Neville," He smiled a bit and grinned at Ahsoka, "I mentioned him once before. He's the one I introduced to his wives… whose grandmother hated me afterward."

Aayla just looked puzzled, while Ahsoka snickered a bit before she gave the wand a wave and a crater blew up in the ground in front of them. Harry quickly took it and offered it to Aayla who got almost the exact same reaction.

"How do you know someone else's… _stick_ will work for us?" Aayla asked after being startled by the response she had gotten from the wand. Despite Harry's demonstration, it was obvious that she found the idea of a Force stick more than a little silly.

"Wand, not stick," Harry corrected again while he rolled his eyes, "And like I told Ahsoka, I don't, but I'm hoping that it will since I don't know where I'd even start harvesting parts for wand cores that might match you."

Harry gave Aayla a penetrating look and then picked up one of the boxes and fished out a wand. "Here, this might fit you. This wand belonged to my sister in all but blood. Loyal, brave. Intellectual."

Aayla was looking pleased and surprised at the string of second hand compliments. But then Harry continued.

"She also rarely trusted other people's academic thoughts. Always thought she knew better than those around her. Of course her saving grace was most of the time she did. She asked the most irritating bloody questions on a regular basis." Harry grinned at Aayla. "But once she got the stick out of her arse about authority, which only took a handful life or death situations, she was pretty amazing all around."

Aayla scowled and snatched the wand from his hand before giving the wand a wave sending a bolt of light across the clearing. The light detonated after it left the wand, before it disappeared into the darkness of the forest.

"Nope. Darn, thought with that last category, the personality might have fit you perfectly," He muttered while sighing theatrically before diving back into the trunk.

He started going through wand after wand with the two women. The wands themselves had interesting reactions, ones that entertained Harry to no end. A few wands in, Ahsoka caused half of the area around them to burst into flame. Harry extinguished the flames with a wave of his own wand.

Aayla had laughed at Ahsoka, but her humor fell short when the same wand blew her off her feet with a gust of wind.

Wands caused all sorts of reactions, shooting fire, one just started making a loud wailing sound when it was picked up, Another wand did nothing when Aayla waved it, but when Ahsoka waved it Aayla found herself upended as the ground rocked beneath her despite the fact that Ahsoka hadn't waved it in her direction.

That had set both Harry and Ahsoka laughing.

Harry's laughter was cut short as the next wand Aayla waved flipped the trunk and sent it tumbling with him still in it. Aayla and Ahsoka were a little surprised to find that the inside of the trunk was still somehow orderly and wand boxes didn't fly everywhere. Harry wasn't quite so lucky as he tumbled around within the box.

He had grumbled a bit as he brought the trunk back over and stuck it to the ground with a sticking charm, while thanking the unbreakable charms that the box only showed a cosmetic scorch mark.

Harry was gingerly climbing back into the trunk when Aayla finally asked. "Harry, how will we know if one of these s-... wands, matches us?"

"Trust me, you'll know," Harry stated confidently as he looked at her and broke into a wistful smile, "Admittedly, some of these reactions are new even for me, but I'm thinking it's a good sign."

Of course as if his words were prophetic, the reactions from the wands only got more bizarre. Oddly enough they happened when Harry was handing out wands from people whose names he knew.

When he handed them a wand from a woman named Luna, different images of creatures that none there could identify briefly flashed into existence before the wand went inert. That one had Harry zoning out thoughtfully as he considered it.

Harry was providing a commentary on the wands from time to time as he handed them out. At least on wands he seemed to know the person. Both Ahsoka and Aayla found the little tidbits he would mention about the people fascinating.

Some comments were very deep and introspective. "That wand belonged to Colin Creevey, excitable kid with the biggest case of hero worship. He loved photography and had a talent for taking pictures and catching the essence of people at emotional moments whether they wanted him to or not."

Other comments were less so. "That wand belonged to Seamus Finnegan. He could make anything explode."

Despite her overall doubts, Aayla was very interested in the people Harry mentioned behind the wands, each seemed to give a little insight into him.

However, very quickly an overall theme started to present itself. Every one of the people were spoken of in the past tense or outright said that they had passed on.

Of course surprising reactions occurred when he had them try wands from a pair he called Fred and George, but he wasn't sure which wand belonged to which, as, apparently just like their owners, they were identical. Harry handed those wands over at the same time, and when Aayla and Ahsoka waved those wands the clothing they were wearing promptly disappeared.

Neither of the two women noticed their own predicament initially, as they were completely stunned by the other's appearance. It was only when each of them realized that they were both staring in shock at each other's body's, did the full implication of what had happened sink in.

Aayla looked down first, and immediately let out a scream while she tried and failed to cover herself up with her hands as best she could. Ahsoka did the same before a confused expression manifested itself on her face, she could still feel her clothes, she just couldn't see them.

Meanwhile, Harry stared at them, completely gob smacked at what happened. The result of the attempted matching having honestly astonished him for the first time since they had started the process. The explosions, bursts of light, loud noises, and other random happenings hadn't phased him and rarely caused him to lift an eyebrow in surprise. This though, was something new

Ahsoka also saw that, hidden amongst the blatant shock shown in his face, his eyes flickered over Aayla's completely revealed form and then over her own for the same amount of time before his head disappeared below the trunk in order to divert his gaze, though the idea of it being a polite gesture was ruined utterly when the sound of guffaws could be heard.

"Harry!" Aayla's indignant voice screeched.

Of course that only served to make the laughter louder. A few seconds later Harry's hand appeared over the lid of the trunk with his wand that he waved in their general direction. Ahsoka felt the tingle of the Force slide over her and glanced down as her clothes shimmered back into view, glancing over and seeing Aayla's doing the same, though the laughter continued for several moments before Harry's voice floated up.

"Are.. you… _cough_… decent?" the snicker in his tone was audible to anyone.

"Yes, Harry, we are," Ahsoka replied rolling her eyes.

Harry poked his head above the trunk cautiously to find one extremely irritated looking Twi'lek Jedi staring down at him, and a more amused than irritated Togruta who was attempting to hold a glare but was failing to stop the corner of her mouth from tilting up in a smile.

"I swear… I have never seen wands do that before," Harry said defensively to their glares. "Though I should've expected wands that came from those two deviants to do something like that."

Then he began to chuckle fondly, a true smile gracing his features, "Gone for as long as they've been, and they still manage to get a prank in."

"If something like that happens again I think I'm just going to shut you in that trunk." huffed Aayla as she crossed her arms. She had seen Harry's appreciative look, but couldn't fault him too much as he hadn't just stared at them, but had given them some privacy after a few moments to react.

"Fair enough," Harry replied with an unconcerned shrug. It wasn't like he could control the wand's responses.

"What exactly was that, Harry?" asked Ahsoka inquisitively. The shock had worn off, and she actually wanted to know what had happened. The implications of hiding things while keeping others visible occurring immediately to her.

He looked up from where he was packing away Fred's and George's wands back into the long thin box that had carried both of them, "Not sure how you managed it, but the accidental magic that burst out there was a selective disillusionment charm that hit only your clothes somehow. I'm not sure I could manage the fine control necessary for that even if I deliberately tried to do so."

He hesitated and pursed his lips briefly, "Okay, that's not entirely true. I could do that, but doing it to the wands so that it was subtle enough for me to miss, and not kick off the moment I touched the wands, and then focus it to just the clothes a person was wearing, without knowing in advance what they would be wearing, that's… incredibly complicated charms work. And not something I would have _thought_ of doing."

"So that wasn't anything you did?" clarified Aayla, still with her arms crossed protectively over her chest.

Harry rolled his eyes, "You felt the burst of magic from each other as you grabbed the wands, right?"

At both of their slowly careful nods, he continued, "Add to that, that these were brother wands belonging to a pair of incredibly bright and talented twin pranksters, then you can see how that bit I talked about how wands aren't sentient, but slightly close. In a sense… a wand will learn from the wizard it chose."

"Apparently these two wands learned the need to prank, and decided that the two of you were decidedly overdressed," he finished with a snicker.

"So that can be repeated in the future though, right?" asked Ahsoka again. At the incredulous look she received from both Aayla and Harry, she quickly clarified, "I meant about turning something specific invisible. I'd want my lightsaber or flak vest invisible if I was trying to be inconspicuous."

With a the nod of understanding, Harry turned back to the trunk and spoke, "Yes, you could definitely do something like that. That's a fifth or sixth year charm, if memory serves. It becomes even more effective if you pair it with a notice-me-not."

The discussion petered out as Harry picked up the pace of wands he was handing them. Though they noticed he was always careful putting them back into boxes, resisting any temptation there might have been for piling the wands up as they tried them. He made more than one comment about definitely getting his workout as he climbed up and down the ladder into the depths of the trunk.

Despite her doubts and skepticism, Aayla found a wand that connected to her first. Harry handed her a wand, and the moment she waved it bright blue, red and purple sparks all shot from the tip, creating a brief firework display. All three present stared for several moments.

"Finally! A match!" Harry exclaimed with a grin and did a bit of a happy dance, "Now granted, that was one of the more brilliant displays I've ever seen from a first time wand matching… but that just means it's a great match!"

"Who did this one belong to?" Aayla asked, she was holding up the wand in front of her face and staring at it almost reverently. Despite what Harry had said, she had been doubtful through the entire process and her comments had gotten increasingly more sarcastic and acerbic.

But now, with this innocuous seeming stick in her hands, she couldn't deny the connection she felt. It felt warm and comforting in her hand. She slowly turned it in her hand examining it from every angle. She was unable to deny the connection she felt through the Force. it felt like a part of her.

Harry was still grinning as he stared at the wand. He picked up the box and glanced at the name. "That belonged to a woman named Victoire Weasley."

"It contains a hair of her maternal great grandmother and the wood is from a cedar tree," He clarified as his eyes took on an increasingly familiar faraway look of someone going through memories. "She was the daughter of my first human friend's brother. The man was a fearless adventuring curse-breaker. She was also a daughter to a woman who fought her whole life to be seen as the intelligent cunning woman that she was, rather the absolute sex bomb her looks distracted everyone with."

Neither girl even thought about making any remarks on Harry's comment, it was obvious from the tone of voice there was a great deal of caring for everyone he was mentioning.

"Victoire was the best and worst of both her parents. Beautiful, intelligent, a bit of a daredevil, the cause of her father going grey early, and fearless in the face of danger. She had the tempers of both her parents. The tantrums in that house were legendary." Harry's smile was wistful with more than a hint of sadness as he remembered the woman in his mind's eye.

Aayla looked like she wanted to ask more, about the woman and to find out what happened to her that caused Harry's expression.

Harry however had already snapped out of his memories and returned to the depths of the trunk to get more for Ahsoka to try.

After a few moments of silence Ahsoka called down to him, "Harry, I've been meaning to ask since we started. Why do you have so many wands from so many people?"

"Yes, why do you have so many?" Aayla seconded a moment later, though her voice as more intense. "I admit I thought that this was a joke... but after finding this... and feeling the connection that's there… it just... it feels intensely personal." She struggled to come up with the right words

Harry popped his head out of the trunk with another stack of boxes a moment later, his tone absent, "At the end of the first war I was in… I defeated the Dark Lord that had terrorized the country I grew up in. My understanding of magic was so... limited. Wands and their intricacies played such a huge role in the last battle that I got interested in the lore behind them and the magic that comprises them."

"A master wand maker allowed me to study wands, pick his brain and learn from him all about wands. Eventually he taught me the secrets of their crafting and allowed me to experiment around with their creation," Harry explained with a fond smile as he handed another wand to Ahsoka who promptly waves it and then gasped as she was drenched in cold water that appeared from nowhere.

Harry barely raised an eyebrow as he dried her with a wave of his hand and snatching the wand out of her hand with the same movement. "To be honest, It actually became rather well-known in our society that I had a significant interest in wands and foci."

"That took a matter of a month or so of course, the public pretty much followed me anywhere after I beat the Dark Lord," He expressed as he sighed deeply. "So many people I barely even knew started sending me old wands their families had saved, as a way of expressing thanks for my role in that terrible war."

"My friends and family were the same, and tended to will theirs to me when they passed on since they felt they had to give me something and knew I didn't want or need money," A brief blank look crossed Harry's face, but he snapped out of it a moment later.

Both Aayla and Ahsoka were struck that this look was so different than the rest of the times he had spaced out. The others, he had simply seemed to lose himself whatever he had been pondering at the time. This time, however briefly, there was almost a look of absolute despair that crossed his face before it was quickly schooled away into a look of forced apathy.

Ahsoka and Aayla exchanged a look but before either could voice thoughts Harry handed Ahsoka another wand and the process continued.

It was over an hour later and Ahsoka was visibly beginning to lose hope. Harry had begun moving wands in and out of her hand so quickly he had stop bothering to look at the boxes much less explain whose wand was who's, at this point it was really him randomly grabbing different boxes. The area around them was a mass of craters, charred patches from random spells, a couple of areas filled with liquids of different color.

All of a sudden Ahsoka gave the most recent wand a wave and instead of another explosion, detonation, random screaming, or dousing with unknown liquid, there was a burst as brilliant red, green, and yellow sparks fountained from the end of the wand.

Ahsoka gasped and grinned, feeling warmth from the connection slide up her wand. There was even the feeling of happiness from the wand she was holding. It was a feeling of euphoria and she barely managed to keep from jumping up and down. She didn't even need Harry to tell her as she exclaimed "It fits!"

Harry was grinning and looking rather relieved. "I'm glad I really didn't relish the idea of going through all of the wands. But we would have if necessary." He grinned at Ahsoka, enjoying her exuberance as she continued to stare at her newly acquired wand.

He idly glanced at the box he had retrieved it from and his expression froze before the smile dropped a bit. The happiness was still there but now it was mixed with melancholy as he stared in surprise at the wand in Ahsoka's hand.

"Harry," said Aayla softly. Her attention had gone from Ahsoka's exuberance to Harry's face just in time to see him glance the box and the expression on his face change. She was staring at him for several moments as she saw possibly the most genuine and vulnerable expression she had ever seen him have.

He forcefully tore his eyes away from the wand, and looked at Aayla, and he raised an eyebrow in wordless expectation.

"Who does that wand belong to?" She asked quietly, sensing that if she was too forward he would shut down.

Harry hesitated and for a moment that stretched into eternity, his eyes met Aayla's once more evaluating, judging. He tilted his head slightly and what look liked acceptance briefly flashed on his face, and Aayla sudden felt a deep understanding that she had just passed some sort of test. Ahsoka had turned her attention from the still sparking wand back to Harry, and her expression was instantly concerned.

They both watched as Harry closed his eyes, as he thought back on whoever this particular wand belonged to before opening them again to look into the distance.

"There was once a little girl," When he began to speak his tone was quiet and solemn as his eyes roamed back and forth not fixing on any particular point as he clearly struggled for words in a way neither of them had seen him do before. "She grew up in a time of war, where people in magical society had extreme prejudice against 'new blood'."

Seeing their faces vaguely, he explained "There were people who were of the belief that the only people who deserved magic were those whose bloodlines could be traced back hundreds, if not thousands of years. The rest… weren't even worthy of living, much less having magic."

Without even seeing their faces, he said "Yeah, sickening, I know."

"This girl grew up and attended school in the backdrop of unsettled times and a war against a Dark Lord and his followers, who were terrorizing the countryside, killing first generation magicals, which they called mudbloods in the pejorative." The disgust in Harry's voice was evident.

"But despite all of that, this girl...? She was fiery, temperamental, and stubborn, not letting any of the danger and threats she lived under hold her back. She was unnaturally gifted with both Potions and Charms," Harry described, a faint smile on his face before that smile transformed into a scowl, "She was beyond intelligent, approaching off the scale genius levels, but she had to always fight to be recognized in a world that look down upon her for her background."

"Eventually, she married. She and her husband, along with all her friends, joined the war effort against the Dark Lord. Those were dark times… whole families were wiped out or reduced to single heirs," Harry's voice grew bleak as shook his head, his eyes tracing the pits and cracks in the ground back and forth.

"Eventually, the woman became pregnant and had a child, and was told that the Dark Lord would now be chasing her and her family. Not because of the damage they had done to he and his followers in the war, but because a prophecy had been given, one stating that the child they had just given birth to could one day possibly defeat the Dark Lord," Harry's tone changed slightly, traces of bitterness creeping through.

"They went into hiding, but their hiding spot was betrayed by one of their closest and oldest friends who had changed sides," Harry said before he finally looked up from the dark forest floor he had been staring at to look at the girls who were nearly hanging on every word. "They were eventually attacked on a holiday night by the Dark Lord himself."

"First the woman's husband died," The emotion leaking out of it as if speaking from rote memorization from something told many, many times. "Then, the Dark Lord went up to the room where the woman was with her child. She pleaded with the Dark Lord to spare her baby and take her instead."

Harry looked a bit disgusted suddenly, and said, "The Dark Lord actually _was_ going to spare her. He had promised her to one of his followers as a spoil of war for his loyal service, but she angered him enough to goad him into killing her."

"But the Dark Lord had made a mistake. He had underestimated the intelligence of the woman," Harry smiled grimly. "The reason she goaded him into killing her was all so that the young woman could purposefully sacrifice her life in an ancient and forbidden blood ritual, her very soul and magic anchoring itself to her son to protect the child specifically against the magic of the one who had killed her."

"Thus, after he had killed the woman, he attempted to kill her son with one of the darkest curses we have, appropriately called 'The Killing Curse.' Three guesses as to what it does," Harry said dryly with a look at Ahsoka.

"It… kills." She whispered softly.

Harry's voice was soft and emotion. "Every time. Without fail. In fact, in all its history no one had ever survived it when properly cast. You get hit with it, you die. The end. Full stop. Your soul is ripped from your body. But the woman's ritual protected her son. It blocked the previously unblockable killing curse and, rebounded the curse right to the Dark lord."

"It completely destroyed the Dark Lord's body."

Aayla and Ahsoka were both enraptured by Harry's story. There was powerful emotion in his voice, quite unlike anything they had ever heard before. When it became obvious that he was done speaking and that he once more had that far away look in his eyes. Aayla and Ahsoka both exchanged another look before Aayla spoke up quietly snapping Harry out of it.

"What was her name?" Ahsoka asked. She may not have understood magic as Harry saw it, but that didn't make that story any less impactful. She felt it only right to know the name of such a woman, who had done such an unbelievable thing in the defense of another, especially her own child. Something no Jedi was ever allowed to have. Motherhood was something denied to them.

"Her name… was Lily." Harry said softly.

Harry shook his head a little bit, making it clear that the topic was closed as he heaved himself out of the trunk. "You both have your wands, now we get to the hard part, seeing just how capable you are of actually using magic the way I do."

Ahsoka and Aayla exchanged glances at Harry's sudden change of topic. Neither of them were going to forget the story that had just been told or it's obvious seriousness to Harry. Harry's narrative around that specific wand had been far more detailed than any other one he had given them.

It was rare to hear any story at all about Harry's world, thus far he had occasionally given descriptions of specific people, or even small stories about them. Though to be fair he had mentioned far more people since they started testing wands than he had in the entire time he had been around Ahsoka up to that point. But he never had he actually talked about the community he had come from or what sort of beliefs and politics were rampant.

They were interrupted by a soft crack as Dobby reappeared in front of Harry with his arms crossed in a rare show of irritation, "Master Harry promised to finish organizing, or it be just as long as last time before he gets around to it again!"

Harry sighed a bit and rolled his eyes, "Yes Dobby."

Dobby just shook his head muttering something that sounded like "crazy lazy master." before he nodded toward the house and then disappeared again.

Harry rolled his eyes a hint of amusement and exasperation in his tone, "Bloody taskmaster. You'd think he was in charge."

He gave the space Dobby had just occupied a glare that didn't have any real heat to it then he sighed and turned back to Aayla and Ahsoka who were both watching them. "Okay, Dobby is going to insist on being a slave driver. He's probably right. I'm not even sure what's in some of the trunks, and if I don't actually finish them, I'll get distracted."

At Ahsoka's crestfallen expression Harry' shook his head. "That doesn't mean I don't have instruction for you."

"What I want you to do is practice levitation," Harry stated, and then saw the confusion in Ahsoka's face so he expanded. "I know you can do that without a wand. But I want you to practice using the wand. This way you're doing something you're familiar with, while learning what the feel of a focus is like."

"I want you getting used to the feeling of Magic flowing through a wand. Once you get the hang of that. We'll really start to branch out," Harry finally grinned, shaking off the melancholy that had seemed to infect him.

"Master Harry Potter is procrastinating and Miss Soaky is encouraging him." Dobby announced as he reappeared with a huff and eyed first Harry and then Ahsoka suspiciously before he disappeared again.

"You better go, Master, or Dobby may start poisoning your food or something." Ahsoka chuckled softly.

Harry rolled his eyes and stalked toward the house after giving the two women a wry expression. "Yeah, poisoned by a house elf. Haven't had that happen in a while."

That left the two Force users alone with each other outside with their new wands. They had watched Harry's abrupt departure with puzzled expressions.

"Have you ever felt anything like this when you hold it?" Ahsoka asked the older Jedi quietly, as she ran her fingers along the wand in her hand reverently.

"No," Aayla admittedly quietly, her eyes once more being drawn to the wand in her own hand. "I've never felt it before. It's… like I always should've had this. I mean, it chose me just then, but it's been waiting for me to come along my whole life."

Ahsoka watched Aayla holding her wand for a few moments, and then her eyes went to her own wand. She stared at her own wand as her eyes narrowed slowly. Her gaze flicked between the wand and the door to the house where Harry had just gone. Abruptly she turned on her heels and headed back into the house.

"Where are you going?" demanded Aayla as she realized her companion had suddenly marched off, and she found herself rushing to follow her.

"To get some answers," Ahsoka said determinedly.

"Answers about what?" Aayla asked, confused but following the younger woman into the house.

"This wand," she said as she held the wand up, not bothering to look back. "I'm going to go ask those portrait things if they can tell us more about the original owner of this wand and the war she fought in. That was more... intense than I've ever seen Harry before, and I'm curious as to why."

Aayla quick stepped to keep up with her friend. They entered the house and glanced towards to find one large trunk among the pile of trunks. The trunk was open and Harry nowhere in sight. However they could hear his voice.

"This trunk has been expanded forever... Why in Merlin's name is this here!?" It sounded like it was coming from the trunk.

"Master Harry instructed Dobby to collect everything he owned. Dobby packed everything." The little being responded.

"Dobby, what on Earth could I possibly do with a toilet that isn't connected to anything?" Harry demanded, incredulity in his voice.

"Master said to get everything and the kitchen sink," Dobby replied with a stubborn response.

There was a pause and a groan. "There's a kitchen sink in here somewhere, isn't there?"

Harry's voice faded out as the girls made their way back through the book shelves. Ahsoka had strode through the bookshelves focused on her goal Aayla still trailing her. They returned to the study area they were in the previous evening.

The two women in the portraits seemed to unfreeze as they walked closer.

"I was wondering if I could ask you some questions," Ahsoka started without preamble.

Daphne shook her head slightly, "I already said we weren't going to tell you more about Harry."

Ahsoka shook her head, "My questions aren't about Harry, not really."

"Harry just got us wands and I was curious about the people the wands belonged to originally." She said diplomatically.

That provoked raised eyebrows from both of the portraits.

Tonks had a puzzled frown. "He gave you wands that were used by others rather than make you ones on his own?"

Aayla nodded and spoke up. "Yeah, he said he didn't want to scour the galaxy trying to find magical creatures until he found ones that fit," She kept her tone polite, she had tried talking to the portraits for quite awhile the night before. She was well aware that they seemed to have personalities, and Daphne especially seemed not to like her.

Ahsoka nodded picking up the thread once more, "So we were naturally curious if you could tell us about their former owners."

Tonks nodded, while Daphne was more reserved though both were looking down at the two women with more than a little interest. Daphne spoke up as she tapped her chin thoughtfully. "Old pureblood families tended to keep wands. A lot of times they had children try wands of family members, in the hope that the wands would match. I had my maternal great grandmother's wand."

"Why would they do that?" Ahsoka asked, Harry hadn't mentioned that little nugget.

"Well for one, they always hoped a child might match up with the wand of a particularly powerful family member, signifying the possibility for great things." Daphne replied.

"Though it could also signify an affinity for certain things." Tonks added. "Telling a family that a child might be particularly suited for one thing or another, though Ollivander was just as effective for that. The problem with Ollivander the Wandmaker though, was that he wouldn't sell a wand to anyone under eleven years old. A family wand would let them know sooner."

"That's true. Though, it was always interesting to know the history of the person who had your wand. I remember trying to find out anything I could about my great grandmother," Daphne stated with a nod of agreement and then her eyes focused on Aayla. "So, whose wand did you get?"

Aayla glanced at Ahsoka who nodded slightly in encouragement and held up her wand, "Mine belonged to a woman named Victoire Weasley."

Tonks and Daphne both actually smiled at that. Though Tonks responded first, "Oh, now little Victoire was quite the little spitfire. She was born a year to the day from the end of the war with Voldemort."

"She was the daughter of a friend of both Harry and I," said Tonks. "Bill Weasley and Fleur Delacour. I remember their wedding, though I was invited more for security than any close relationship with the family. That came later."

Daphne nodded. "She followed in her father, William's, footsteps for awhile, working as a curse breaker. But her real talent was in working with people. She was very good with people and claimed she could seduce anyone."

"Enjoyed doing it too," Tonks added as she shook her head, "Took a run at Daph and Harry if I recall."

"She was quite put out that the only person she couldn't seem to seduce was Harry," Daphne agreed while she chuckled a bit; a rare fond smile crossing her face, "Harry would always play at being completely oblivious to her advances."

"Oh yes, she was quite the flirt," Tonks laughed softly. "She would always be quite put out when Harry repeatedly seemed to misunderstand her intentions. She did everything short of stripping and hopping into his lap."

"His act completely stymied her. I asked him once about it, and he said he felt too much like her blood-uncle for him to be comfortable with it," Daphne explained as the portrait woman shook her head. "But she was the antithesis of shy and reserved. She was a constant social scandal for the Weasley Clan."

"Overall her mother was exasperated at every turn, she blamed her Aunt Gabi's influence. Though Fleur always seemed to forget she was nearly as stubborn and rebellious," Tonks added, with a grin on her face, "Molly, Victoire's paternal grandmother, was constantly horrified. There was even a blow up at home between she and her parents the summer between her sixth and seventh years."

"Oh yes. I had nearly forgotten about that," Daphne mused thoughtfully, "I believe her parents came back early from a trip and discovered her in bed with another student and lost their minds. I'm not sure which of her parents was more upset, and I'm not sure what horrified them more. The fact that they caught their daughter having sex with another student, the fact that it was happening in their home, or the fact that the student was female."

"I still say it was Fleur who was more upset. And it was probably because they were in a position that was far more adventurous than a closet-prude like Bill was ever willing to try," Tonks snorted and shook her head. "Anyway, she ended up staying with us for the rest of that particular summer."

"That upset some of the Weasleys," Daphne commented, "But Harry smoothed that over by pointing out that she was of age and weren't they happier that she was somewhere safe rather than just out on her own… or with their uncles, the Twins?"

"Yes, that was just one of many scandals that Bill swore was the reason he went grey ten years before his father did," Tonks continued, "Even when she settled down a little bit later in life she defied convention and settled with a female, and a muggle to boot. They, and the string of guys they entertained seemed happy, though none of them lingered long."

Daphne shrugged and met Aayla's eyes. "Victoire was someone who ignored social mores, and what she was told she had to be. She forged her own path and made no apologies for it."

Aayla frowned a little bit, "What happened to her?"

Daphne frowned and looked toward Tonks who shrugged. "I have no idea. Nothing before our paintings were imprinted."

Aayla chewed on her lip as she considered what she was told.

"You know…" Daphne ventured, as she tapped her chin thoughtfully. "You might ask Harry… he might have a portrait of Victoire somewhere. Knowing him it's probably in one of a hundred or so trunks. He has lots of portraits, we are just the only two he tends to keep out."

"What about my wand?" Ahsoka eagerly asked, holding it up for emphasis, she was glad the two women were more forthcoming when it came to topics other than Harry. It was also telling that neither Ahsoka nor Aayla had put their wands down, the connection still felt… too right.

"Whose is it?" Tonks asked glancing at the wand, but definitely aware that she was unlikely to recognize a wand from sight alone.

"It belonged to a woman named Lily," Ahsoka stated.

"What was the last name? I knew several women who were ultimately given that name, including one of my own children," Daphne asked, her eyes more focused on the wand now, though not showing any sign of recognition.

Ahsoka and Aayla both grimaced. The portraits had mentioned having children the previous evening, and neither of the women really knew what to do about that revelation. This was just a reminder. Even more concerning was that Harry hadn't hinted or spoken about it at all.

Ahsoka glanced at the wand and then at the woman, "Um… Harry said that the woman sacrificed her life to protect the life of her child from a Dark Lord who was hunting them and it protected the child from a curse that was supposedly unstoppable."

Daphne and Tonks both froze, eyes widening in shock. They stared at the wand and then at each other. Neither said anything, and were clearly hesitant to clarify anything further on that wand if their glances at each other were anything to go by.

Aayla jumped in before they could close off, especially since both women definitely recognized who it was. "He told us quite a bit about her. About how she was looked down on because of her birth."

"Pureblood morons," Tonks sneered.

Daphne held up her hand. "Purebloods and people with pureblood beliefs could be morons. But not all of us were. Don't paint all purebloods with the same brush."

Tonks rolled her eyes at the old argument and the easy, familiar response. Instead she looked to Aayla and Ahsoka before she nodded her head towards Daphne "Blondie here was a pureblood. Me mum was one as well, but she got kicked outta the family for marrying a muggleborn…."

"I just want to know more about her. Harry only told us those facts and that she was very smart, before he changed topics," Ahsoka interjected while she looked up at the paintings with a pleading expression. She had a feeling, a nudging from the Force, that she was missing something important.

"But it was far more information than he had given us on anyone else," Aayla added, "Or at least it seemed to mean more to him."

Daphne and Tonks exchanged a long look before Tonks seemed to shrug a little bit. "The Lily who first owned that wand you in your hands was born Lily Evans. She eventually went on to marry a schoolmate who, even in a career cut short by war, was almost legendary for being a brilliant Auror... James Charlus Potter"

Aayla and Ahsoka frowned but before they could put together the pieces, Tonks continued. "Lily was Harry's mother."

"Harry... knows a lot about people and families. They were always really important to him. He always kept abreast of what was going on in people's lives and within their families," Daphne's voice was soft but underneath it there was a coldness to it.

Tonks nodded, "He made a point to remember birthdays and major life events like anniversaries and such for people who were close to him. He loved learning more about people's histories and what made them tick. He even got several muggle degrees centered around the study of people, and the mind."

"One person he always wished he could learn more about was Lily Potter. But after a certain point, he couldn't," Daphne said, the anger in her voice clear.

Ahsoka and Aayla were both listening intently, wanting to know more. This was the first time they had gotten the pictures to talk about Harry's past. In the back of their minds, both were well aware about how the Jedi would view such attachments.

Ahsoka however couldn't help asking. "Why couldn't he?"

Daphne's voice was ice cold, "Two people did absolutely everything in their power to erase any record or remembrance of her. One out of petty jealousy that turned to hate, and the other for their own ends."

"Who?" Aayla asked.

"At this point, the who doesn't matter," said Tonks, cutting off whatever answer Daphne might have given to that question, "It is the why. Harry was the subject of a prophecy, and people tried guiding the completion of the prophecy to their own desire and benefit."

Daphne picked up the thread almost immediately, anger still in her voice, "Part of that required Harry be… raised as a weapon. A disposable weapon that had one purpose. He was raised without love, and without any sort of real family. He was encouraged to have no attachments to anyone."

Both Ahsoka and Aayla look startled at that comment.

"The only information adults tended to give him about his mother is how noble and intelligent she was, along with repeating constantly to him that she died for him." Tonks said, a trace of mocking in her voice.

Daphne finally glared at Tonks, for giving away too much, cutting her off from giving away more "Harry was raised to be disposable. He was thrown into a conflict he knew almost nothing about before he was even a teenager. His surviving in the end, and not dying like a good little martyr made a number of people unhappy. That's all you need to know."

Aayla and Ahsoka were both speechless. The pictures both seemed to decide mutually not to say anything more, fading back to complete stillness.

Ahsoka took that as their cue to leave. She was reluctant to have Harry come looking for her and only discover them here talking to the portraits. She grabbed Aayla's hand and tugged a mostly unresisting Aayla away and back through the book shelves.

She didn't stop tugging as she pulled her toward the entrance of the house which remained open. "DOBBY! What the hell? I know it's been awhile, but I'm fairly certain that At one point we did get rid of all the muggle torturing devices the Black Family collected! I distinctly remember a fairly judicious application of fiendfyre."

"Those not be torture devices and they be collected by Mistress Tonksy!" Dobby replied.

"Oh… Huh." Harry responded eloquently. There was a brief pause and then a surprised, if mild tone from him, "You'd think after all this time I would have known all of her quirks. But somehow this explains so much..."

His voice turned amused as there was the sound of heavy metal shifting. "I wonder how this was supposed to be used… not to mention _where_." There was a pause and then a loud whirring sound accompanied by metal clinking. "Oh hey, the batteries still work. Go figure."

Anything else that might have been said was cut off as the two stepped back outside, though Ahsoka took the time to nudge the door mostly shut. The conversation was too much for even the two Force users to deal with at the moment, they were still stuck on the precious revelations.

They both stood outside the house in silence.

"Wow," said Ahsoka finally. "Another child of prophecy, just like SkyGuy"

"Wives, children… parents," Aayla grimaced and said gravely. "He has far too many attachments. It's not safe."

Ahsoka turned and regarded her with a glare, enough that Aayla was taken aback slightly. After several moments Ahsoka didn't say anything she just shook her head and turned away from her companion to walk away toward the end of the porch

Aayla watched her go with narrowed eyes. The set of Ahsoka's shoulders told her that she was more than a little frustrated.

However rather than speaking, Ahsoka didn't turn around, instead she lifted her wand and pointed at something on the ground.

Once Aayla realized Ahsoka wasn't going to say anything she moved closer to her, her tone gentler.

"Ahsoka, you know I'm right. Even his mother...For a Force user to still be _so_ emotionally attached-"

She was cut off when Ahsoka whirled around and faced her with a calm expression. "You're right, of course. The emotions he shows, and the attachments he has are dangerous."

Aayla nodded in agreement, though her pensive expression didn't leave her face because she didn't know what to do about it, or why the Force would direct her to follow this route. She was relieved that Ahsoka agreed with her.

She was so lost in her thoughts, and relieved that Ahsoka agreed, that she totally missed the warning in the Force as Ahsoka deliberately smacked her across the face.

Aayla gasped in shock her hand going to her cheek. It was not a gentle slap by any means.

"I am _DEAD_, do you understand that?" Ahsoka was practically shaking in anger. Aayla blinked in surprise as she saw several pieces of rock and rubble from their earlier experiments with wands lift and twirl in the air as the young Togrutan glared at her.

"Putting aside Harry for a moment… without emotional attachments I am dead!" she reiterated. She didn't give Aayla any time to respond. "My _Master... _or former Master I guess. The one who so many in the Council think they hide their opinion on… but who most look down upon because he gets 'too attached'. He was _attached_ to me, and believed in me."

"He was the one that brought proof that I wasn't guilty when the Republic on the verge of executing me! While the Jedi Council was going to sit by and let them do so!" Ahsoka snorted a little bit. "Of course they had no attachments to me remember? Of course the one that framed me? Yeah. What _attachments_ did she have? Nothing."

"Then in comes Harry, who dares to have _attachments _to people. But he doesn't have any specific attachment to me. What does he do?" Ahsoka demanded. "Saves me in a bar. Twice."

"That same Harry who you yourself said was a fork in the road of the Force between the visions you described." Ahsoka glared at her friend. "And you're saying those attachments must be a problem! Make up your damned mind!"

Ahsoka pointed at the house, though her sapphire eyes didn't leave Aayla's and her voice got very quiet, in an icy sort of calm. "Did you hear what they said in there?"

Aayla frowned and tilted her head with a puzzled expression though she noted that the swirling rocks behind Ahsoka settled down.

"Did you hear how she said that Harry was raised?" Ahsoka clarified in response to the puzzled expression. A confused look crossed Aayla's face, but Ahsoka continued. "Harry was raised unloved and without any sort of attachment. Sound familiar to you?"

Aayla's jaw dropped. "You can't be implying that the Jedi Order is raising younglings to be weapons."

"Aren't they? Children trained for combat and strategy, unloved and told attachments are bad, put into war when they're barely teenagers, and then, as my case proved beyond a shadow of a doubt, are viewed as disposable when it's convenient," Ahsoka's voice was harsh. "Tell me how it's different."

Aayla was completely off balance by Ahsoka's sudden about face. however she was interrupted from replying.

"I take it you've been talking to the portraits of my wives," Harry's voice was dry as it floated from behind them.

Both women turned their heads to find Harry leaning against the wall with his arms crossed and a calm expression and raised eyebrow. Both women looked guilty at that accusation. Ahsoka opened her mouth to apologize, but Harry waved it off before she could start, "I assumed you'd run into them sooner or later."

"Harry, I thought you were organizing your boxes," Ahsoka said still looking guilty.

Harry looked sheepish, as he explained "We came across a trunk of things from one of my wives' hobbies. Now I know where she got some of her occlumency defenses. Dobby is going to be awhile sorting that. There are some things I'm just better off not knowing."

Harry shook his head before he focused on Aayla and Ahsoka once more. He turned on Ahsoka first. "You're working at your occlumency I take it?"

Ahsoka hesitated and nodded a little bit. "Every spare moment, and even when I can devote a bit of attention to it."

"That's… impressive. Took me awhile to get to that point where I could split my attention like that," Harry tilted his head and regarded her. "You're getting closer to your current memories."

"Yes." Ahsoka admitted without hesitation, though she was startled at how he knew. Harry had stressed her about honesty in this process.

"Keep at it, just remember the emotions from more traumatic and more recent memories will be stronger, since even without reliving memories, a lot of time you've come to some sort of terms with them when the memories are more distant. The more recent ones will be more raw," Harry explained as he smiled, "Once you get those sorted, you'll have to decide how much farther you want to take this. Whether you trust me to enter your mind to test your defenses and help you reinforce them."

"I trust you, Master," Ahsoka said immediately, cutting off whatever Aayla was going to say when she had heard that. This time there was no sarcasm when she said the word Master.

Harry shook his head. "That is easy to say without the knowledge of what's really at stake. You have to remember, when I am in your mind, I can and probably will see many memories as well as any thoughts that occur to you. It's… intensely personal. There is almost no privacy."

Ahsoka's brow furrowed but she lifted her chin slightly, making it clear that she didn't think it was likely that she was going to change her mind.

"Still, while you are sorting your memories, your emotions and reactions are likely to be closer to the surface and likely to be far less restrained than they normally would," Harry continued. Aayla looked like she was going to say something, but Harry turned his gaze on her and narrowed his eyes, "That does not mean that all of her statements and perceptions are wrong."

Harry held up his hand to forestall arguments, "I didn't say she was right either. From what I know and have been told, I would say the truth somewhere in the middle."

"Like it always is." Harry sighed a bit and ran his hand over his face, for just a moment looking incredibly weary. At their quizzical looks at that, he shook his head and smiled sadly, "There are always three sides to every story. Your side, their side and the truth."

Harry shrugged lithely and then focused his attention once more on Aayla who looked like she was holding in quite the lecture. "However, before we can do any of this with you, you'll have some thinking to do. You need to figure out who you are, and what you want. You asked to come with me, but why are you here?"

"If you want to go, I'll get an oath from you right here, and then take you back to the surface. I'm sure the wookiees would be happy to arrange transport back for you." Harry's voice wasn't angry, but it was firm and direct.

That shut Aayla up and completely took the wind out of her sails. She sighed and looked up into the darkness of the lower tree canopy. She chose to go with the truth, knowing from experience that Harry responded much better to that. But she still took several moments sorting out her own feelings. "I don't want to leave. But… it's not easy. Suddenly finding someone like you."

"I get a vision more clearly than I have had for years that clearly tells me I should join you. Someone who seems to be a walking contradiction in the Force. Breaking the rules of the Force as I understand them left and right," She sighed and slumped her shoulders as she explained before looking at Harry, her expression pleading for some understanding. "And who seems to be nothing but a giant enigma, and one who revels in keeping those mysteries secret."

"I don't know if you know how it feels to feel like your entire life has been upended by someone from a world I know nothing about," Her voice had risen, finally giving voice to her frustration.

Harry's head had tilted, looking thoughtful at her statement. "Well, I could argue and say that I didn't ask to upend your life. Nor did I do it on purpose. You asked to come with me."

"I could also state that I know _exactly_ how that feels to have someone show up from a world you know nothing about, and then totally upend everything you thought you knew about life," Harry smiled sadly, at that statement "But I won't."

"And there you go again!" shouted Aayla, throwing her hands up in the air in exasperation. "Stop being so cryptic."

Harry held up his hands defensively and chuckled a little bit. "I'm sorry, that's force of habit. I was going to say that I know how it can feel to be kept in the dark. You want answers about me. Ask, but I won't promise to tell you everything. Some secrets are mine to keep. But I won't get upset for you asking."

Aayla and Ahsoka were both unable to keep their surprise off their face. "Really?" Aayla blurted out.

Harry nodded and then chuckled. "But not this second. Consider your questions and what you really want to know. First I want to get you started on a little bit of Magic."

ooOoOOoOoo

The girls seemed to be turning over questions they wanted to ask. However that didn't stop them from being interested in magic. He was relatively unsurprised at how quickly the two of them picked up the levitation charm. It was, after all, one of the first things they were taught as younglings.

Ahsoka made a comment about how much less effort and concentration it took to levitate objects, especially multiple objects when using the wand.

Harry nodded. "One of my best friends, Ron, levitated a troll's club with this spell at age 11. I loved the guy, but no one ever accused him of being particularly focused or being able to center himself. If he can do it at age 11, most people can with a bit of effort."

Aayla was frowning a little bit, "It… feels like cheating though," She was looking at her wand uncertainly.

Harry tilted his head thoughtfully. "Is it cheating? Or does it bother you that this makes it so someone without all of your training on focus, willpower or basic understanding of their magic… or Force as you call it, can do this?"

Harry's tone wasn't condescending, he was honestly curious. Aayla looked stumped at that.

"I mean is it wounded pride? Jealousy? Envy? Resentment?" Harry pressed a little bit

Aayla responded immediately, "Jedi do not feel such things. Such things lead to the dark side."

But he definitely caught Ahsoka looking quizzically at both the wand in her hand, at Aayla, and Harry. "Really, then what are you feeling now then that has you so stumped?"

Whatever she might have said was interrupted as Dobby popped next to Harry. "Master Harry, Magic user is attempting to get through the wards."

Harry turned to Dobby quickly and narrowed his eyes, "Did they set off the intent ward? I didn't feel anything."

Dobby shook his head no. "Magic user be stopped outside outer aversion wards."

Harry frowned thoughtfully and then closed his eyes in concentration. It only took him a moment to sense a magic user in proximity, though he assumed this was a Force user

Especially as there was no attempt to hide their magical presence.

Harry hadn't even been concentrating on the area It was natural for him to let down his guard around his home. He shook his head and frowned a moment before shrugging.

"Well if they haven't set off the intent wards. Let's go see what they want."

"Master Harry potter want Dobby to activate Marauder defenses?" Dobby asked, a trace of eagerness to his voice.

Harry shook his head, "No, that's okay."

Dobby scowled in disapproval and discontent at his Master's lack of caution.

Harry sighed. "Okay, if they're bad, I'll give you the word and you can teach them manners."

That brightened Dobby up considerably.

Harry didn't say anything else just headed down the path away from the house. Aayla and Ahsoka quick stepped to keep up with him. Harry lead past where the path was lit.

He kept walking away from the light of the manor, and deeper into the much more dim jungle when he stopped before two enormous roots. The roots were intertwined and prevented them from going any further. Harry took out a wand and without a word waved it and the two roots slowly twisted and separated.

The group heard a distinctive snap hiss of a lightsaber as the roots began to twist and move. Slowly the roots retracted and in the newly open path stood a cloaked Jedi with a blue lightsaber lit.

It's light lit the area, which the others noted had previously been only lit by the flames of magic around, and the unnatural light of the lightsaber temporarily blinded them,

Harry raised an eyebrow, as despite the cloak, which was heavily stained and dirty from obvious travel in the forest. It was easy to tell that the person standing before him was female despite the hood that concealed the woman's face in shadow

It was Aayla who recognized the figure after just a moment. "Master Shaak Ti, what are you doing down here?"

**oOooOoOOoOooOo**

**Author's notes: DUN DUN DUN!**

**1)So we get to see the Chancellor's point of view. He sees things have come up unexpectedly and he reacts and adjusts his plans accordingly. He is not omnipotent but he IS powerful, and adept enough to soundly beat Yoda. I hope we got his characterization right, Plums helped SO much with him.**

**2) Harry's starting to change things, and those effects are starting to grow. Moving up the assault on the wookiees. etc. And they've chosen their wands. It's a start. Connections abound!**

**Also, I liked in this chapter you start to see the differences in headspace between Aayla and Ahsoka, where they are at emotionally and mentally in regards to Harry and how Aayla is trying but sometimes just keeps slipping back into habit. You might call it bashing. I don't care, rarely is someone's entire liffe view and morals changed by a single talk.**

**3) One thing I feel the need to point out. Just because Aayla or someone else sees something as a future vision, does NOT mean that it will be coming true. They see possibilities. Not everything anyone sees will happen, or happen the way they expect. So stop bitching about me giving away too many plot points. The future is constantly in motion and things are going to be changing. After a certain number of chapters even I don't know wtf I'm writing. So assuming they'll match flashes of vision? Bad assumption. **

**Also, I do not intend for Shaak Ti to end up with Harry. **

**4) Plum's Piddles: Another chapter where, the ending of it as it currently stands was not the one we wrote originally. This is pretty much squarely in the middle of a 5-6 block of chapters that was originally maybe 2-3. Kat would get two chapters ahead, jump two chapters back, add a scene, move a scene, I'd suggest another move….**

**Then she'd throw her hands in the air and split them after I'd grouched enough. I'm pretty sure we actually had an argument about something in the midst of these chapters (our first and only one after a year and a half of collaborating). Not even sure what it was about now to be honest.**

**The Palpatine thing needed to happen. I realize it's kinda out of left field, but we needed some insight into the lunatics long-term game along with how he's reacting to the "Disturbances in the Force." He'd 'react' to the events, and plan accordingly, which will lead to a new round of "canon" changes, as I think, as a whole, we're done with most of the canon plotline at this point.**

**5) We DO argue. (I KNOW!) Most of our arguments tend to be me wanting something to happen and him going. "Um. Okay but it sorta needs to make sense, how can we make it happen?" Rather than "Um. No. I hate that." but Plums is pretty much awesome and has made me a better writer and sacrificed time on his own writing for whims that occur to me. **

**(Plums - She's the reason there's less lemons in Runemaster… silly needs for stupid things like plot…. what's this world coming to?)**

**Kat: I know. I'm horrible.**

**6) A bowed head for the passing of ****Sir Christopher Frank Carandini Lee, the fabulous actor who played as Dracula, Saruman, and obviously relevant for this story; Count Dooku. He was amazing as an actor and will be missed. **

oOooOoOOoOooOo

**Alternative chapter titles. **

"**There is no way this can go badly for me." - Palpatine.**

"**That time the Dark Lord dismissed Harry as incidental." - Ahsoka**

"Yeah. That won't come back to bite him in the ass. at all." - Tom Riddle.

"Hey! What are you doing here? You aren't in this story." - Harry

"I could be!" -Tom

"No." - Harry

"But think about it, That Palpatine guy seems like the right sort. We'd probably get along." -Tom

"No. There's not enough room in the galaxy for both of your egos." - Harry.

"**Aayla Sleeps in the Nude." - Ahsoka**

"Wait what? Where was I?" - Harry

"You fell asleep early. Must be a stamina problem." - Aayla.

"**Why amateurs without at least 1500 years of experience should not match wands." - Garrick Ollivander**

"Creepy old men always think they know best." - Harry Potter

"**That time Ahsoka almost took my head off." - Harry**

"Only almost? She needs to work on her aim then." - Aayla

"**Ahsoka and Aayla end up naked with Harry." - Plums**

"And they did it to each other. I just got to watch." - Harry

"**That time I realized I was raised as a weapon too." - Ahsoka**

"Hopefully it was a cool weapon…. like a halberd." - Harry.

"**Smack that." - Ahsoka glaring at Aayla**

"**We still got game." - Fred and George Weasley.**

"**Avon Calling!" - Shaak Ti**


	9. Receptions and Preconceptions

**~Chapter 9~**

**"Receptions and Preconceptions."**

The Togrutan Jedi pushed the hood back off her head more fully, and greeted the Twi'lek with a nod of acknowledgement, "Master Secura."

Despite them being the same race, even at a glance, it was easy to see the differences between Shaak Ti and Ahsoka Tano. Where Ahsoka's skin was a light orange, with white markings around her face, Shaak Ti's skin was a deep red. Shaak Ti's face had large white circles over the areas over her eyes and most of her forehead.

The largest differences however lay in two places. First, where Ahsoka's eyes were a deep and vibrant blue, Shaak Ti's were so dark they were nearly indistinguishable from the black pupil at the center. Lastly, in what was presumably a sign of age the length of their lekku and montrals were distinctly different. Shaak Ti's montrals rose much higher above her head than Ahsoka's, and her lekku fell to below her waist while Ahsoka's fell only midway down her chest.

At the incredulous look of seeing her suddenly at the bottom of the Kashyyyk ecosystem, Shaak Ti innocently said, "You had said you were in need of a healer. And I said I was coming."

Aayla nodded slowly, "Yes, but I expected you to contact us once you arrived in-system. Not venture to the depths of the Kashyyyk forest."

"I am comfortable with nature," Shaak Ti explained as she shrugged lithely and then waved a hard at the growth around her, "This forest isn't unpleasant to me. It may be dangerous but with the Force as my ally, it is survivable."

Harry had his head tilted to the side and was regarding her with narrowed eyes. "I'm more curious as to _how _you found this place."

Shaak Ti turned to regard him impassively for several seconds before responding. "I arrived and tried to find Master Secura. I was directed to Salporin who has several friends who are Jedi. He told me the general location on the planet."

Harry muttered and rolled his eyes, "I knew bringing Salporin down here that one time was a mistake."

Shaak Ti didn't acknowledge that she had heard his muttered comment. "I had my R4 unit drop me in the area. Then it was a simple matter of communing with the Force to sense Aayla and Ahsoka's presence. Though Ahsoka's has been harder to sense for some reason."

"You were able to use the Force to divine where they were?" asked Harry, looking thoughtful.

"After that it was just a matter of getting close to the ground," Shaak Ti nodded and gestured toward Aayla and Ahsoka. "Of course now that I'm so close, I can feel the Force practically singing in the area."

Harry had seemed to ignore the rest of what she said. He was stroking his chin thoughtfully before realization struck. "Well… that was rather silly of me. I forgot that these two haven't learned to hide their general presence. So they are trackable."

"Dobby!" Harry called out. Dobby appeared with a pop, causing the newly arrived Jedi Master to start violently in shock. it was the first sign of surprise since she arrived.

"Yes, Master Harry?" The excitable little being was once more dressed as a butler from that morning, though the feather duster he had in his hand only had two feathers in it, and they seemed to be barely hanging on.

"Dobby, I need you to go into the library and find any books on scrying in the divination section and in the warding section. That's a weakness we forgot in the wards here," Harry stated.

"Master Harry Potter be needing to hide?" Dobby repeated looking more than a little startled.

"Not for me Dobby. But I forgot I have to be concerned with Aayla and Ahsoka. They still stand out like beacons," Harry replied as he shook his head a little bit. "They don't know how to hide yet, so while their actions and spells are hidden, their presence really isn't because I didn't bother putting up those wards."

Dobby scowled. "Master Harry Potter put them on home of Missy Marek but not around his own home?"

"Yes, Dobby," Harry rolled his eyes theatrically at the house elf's scolding tone. "I'm sorry, I didn't think we'd need them."

"Master Harry Potter was just being lazy," Dobby asserted with crossed arms.

"Yes. I was being lazy by not putting wards that would hide visitors I never expected to have. You got me Dobby," Harry replied dryly.

Dobby shook his head in disappointment, "Dobby remembers wards. Dobby go engrave thems on stone. Master Harry Potter can power them later. If he's not too tired!"

"If he is, Master can always do it tomorrow. Dobby knows that old people need lots of rest. House Elf would get it all done today," He said smugly before he disappeared with a quick pop, leaving two curious companions, and one shocked newly arrived Jedi Master.

"Cheeky bugger," Harry muttered with a shake of his head, though his tone held more than a little amusement in it.

"Did… did that little being just teleport using the Force?" asked Shaak Ti slowly as she stared at the place Dobby had just left. The first appearance had been unexpected, but she had been staring at him directly when he disappeared so she knew it wasn't just a matter of oversight.

"No, it wasn't the Force," said Harry with a grin, and Aayla and Ahsoka both groaned aloud at what answer they knew was coming. "It was magic."

Aayla couldn't stop the roll of her eyes, as she explained for Shaak Ti's benefit, "His people call the Force, Magic."

Harry's eyebrow quirked in minor irritation, and suddenly, a smile grew on his face, one that scared both Aayla and Ahsoka. Harry lifted a finger to point up towards the forest canopy above them, and simply twitched it.

All three Jedi felt the little surge of the Force.

There were three distinctively different reactions.

Shaak Ti's jaw dropped again.

Ahsoka only hesitated a moment before she started to snicker.

Aayla was just confused at their reactions as she looked around, until she happened to glance down. "_Harry Potter_!"

Harry didn't even bother affecting an innocent appearance, an amused smile on his lips, "Yes, Blue?"

"Why am I pink?!" Aayla demanded loudly. Her normally blue skin was now as vividly bright pink as it had been blue.

Aayla's statement was enough to break the dam for Ahsoka who broke down in giggles. He had used that ability on her less than an hour after they had met so it wasn't surprising, but it was so startling to see on Aayla's distinctively blue skin.

Shaak Ti had moved past shock and her expression was turning into a frown. She delved into the Force, trying to break the illusion, and undo the mind trick's suggestion in her subconscious that made her think what she was seeing was the truth.

After a few seconds though, she gave up, as she couldn't find anything affecting her senses, and her face couldn't hide the shock she felt, and neither could her voice. "I didn't even… feel the mind trick applied... It really looks like she is pink."

Though her voice also held traces of indignation in it. She was clearly not pleased. Whether that was because she thought Harry had attempted to cast a mind trick on her or had succeeded in doing so, or was some combination of the two, even she wasn't sure.

Harry tilted his head curiously. "Mind trick?" he asked no one in particular.

Ahsoka spoke up. "That's a Jedi ability to befuddle and confuse, or in more innocent circumstances, a small scale illusion. It affects the mind of people generally making them suggestible. They're generally frowned upon, and only used in the direst of circumstances, as they can be abused to simply just make everything go a Jedi's way."

"Oh. That sounds like a weak confundus charm. More effective on non magicals than it is on magicals," Harry said as he scratched his chin thoughtfully before shrugging. "Anyway, that's not what I did. I did a simple color change charm. Her skin really is pink."

"All her skin," he added with a wiggle of his eyebrows.

His voice suddenly then turned quite serious when he said, "And I think that it will remain that way until she either apologizes, learns to dispel it herself, or she learns to say 'Magic' without that oh-so condescending note in her voice."

"Harry!" Aayla gasped, then looked down again in horror at a color no twi'lek, to the best of her knowledge, had ever been.

Harry ignored her and turned to Ahsoka with a raised eyebrow and then looked at Shaak Ti significantly. It took several repetitions before Ahsoka caught on.

"Harry Potter, this is Jedi Master Shaak Ti, of the Jedi High Council. Master Shaak Ti this is Harry Potter." Ahsoka's voice was carefully neutral. She said nothing more and was careful to keep her own feelings regarding the entire trial under wraps. She vividly remembered Shaak Ti sitting on the Council in Judgment when she had been expelled in the sham trial, She hadn't spoken a word during the entire event. She had just stared down at Ahsoka impassively.

"Well, it's nice to meet you, I'm sure," Harry said with a bow of his head his own tone somewhat bland as he definitely caught the uncharacteristic flatness in Ahsoka's voice.

"While Blue contacted you out of concern for me, and I appreciate that concern, truly..." he said as he gestured around and flexed his arm. "As you can see I am quite alright."

Shaak Ti's eyebrow raised, then turned to Aayla who was still poking at her skin and shooting a glare at Harry, "Master Secura is not often prone to exaggeration. She described your wounds as quite severe."

"He got caught in the blast of a thermal detonator... his arm was _gone_!" Aayla interjected. The color of her skin was ignored now in the face of her judgment seemingly being questioned.

Harry glanced down pointedly at both of his arms before looking back at her. "I got better," He replied with an expression on his face that showed nothing but mischief.

"Would you mind if I examined you Mister Potter?" Shaak Ti inquired carefully watching the interaction between Aayla and Harry with more than a little interest. "I brought some medical equipment thinking I would need it. The burns you experienced were described as being quite horrific."

Harry was about to instantly decline when a glance at both Ahsoka and Aayla's expressions paused his decline. Ahsoka in particular had a look on it that was part determination and part plea. He recognized that look long ago as one that meant that if he didn't comply, that the follow-up argument would be more irritating than just surrendering and giving them what they wanted in the first place.

It was further telling that Ahsoka was willing to put aside whatever coldness she felt toward Shaak Ti in her concern for Harry. Harry wasn't sure what beef she had with the older woman. But he had definitely noticed the change in tone when giving the introduction to the Jedi Master.

While he cared not at all for the trouble Shaak Ti went to get there, nor her concern for his wellbeing, and was still relatively ambivalent to Aayla's; Ahsoka was a bit different. Harry found himself genuinely moved by her concern for him as pointless as it might have actually been.

Besides, it wasn't like he couldn't just obliviate her and portkey her to the other side of the planet. He was certain that she wasn't looking for some secret weakness he might have or something equally as ridiculous.

"All right. If it'll make you feel better," Harry conceded though it wasn't a concession that was completely graceful, especially as his mouth turned up in an amused smirk. "But I see one thing that looks like a rectal thermometer and you are _so_ out of here."

Shaak Ti blinked at Harry's blunt statement, though Aayla looked unsurprised and was still too busy glaring. Ahsoka merely rolled her eyes though a pleased smile crossed her face at Harry's acquiescence. She may not have been the biggest fan of the Jedi Master, but she did want to make sure there were no side effects of whatever Harry had done.

Harry stepped back and waved his hand the way they had come. "Be it ever so humble, there is no place like home. You are welcome here," Harry stated as he turned and gestured toward the house.

"That's the same thing you said last night when we arrived," Ahsoka observed as her brow furrowed as she looked at Harry suspiciously.

Harry nodded in approval of her awareness. "That's right. It's a phrase welcoming you to my home and essentially granting you safe passage into my house through the wards."

"Wards?" Aayla asked, now that it had been the second time Harry mentioned that. He hadn't really explained it the previous time he mentioned it.

"A whole other branch of magic, probably won't really get into that for awhile. There's a lot of buildup to you get to stuff that complex.," Harry chuckled in amusement at the eager and familiar glint, that appeared on Ahsoka's face.

"The same things you had around the ship on Nar Shaddaa?" Ahsoka inquired in a tone that was more a statement looking for affirmation than it was question.

Harry winked at her and nodded, "Suffice it to say, massive magical protections, both offensive and defensive, that protect this home from people with hostile intent. Does a few other things too, but we'll get to all that much later."

Harry lead them back along the path aside the lake, lit by blue fireballs. Shaak Ti was looking much the same as the others had when they crossed looking left and right for any sign of a way that the fires continued floating in the air without any sort of visible fuel.

Harry heard Aayla reassuring her friend that her senses weren't fooling her.

Ahsoka shook her head, ignoring the conversation the two Masters were having. She deliberately walked beside Harry, engaging with him rather than allowing Jedi Masters to take the lead as had been the habit in the past. "We've done levitation, what else are we going to do?"

Besides, now that she had her wand she was excited to explore some of these applications.

Harry chuckled a little bit, pleased by the girl's excitement. "I think I'm going to start you on transfiguration."

"Changing one thing to another," Ahsoka instantly replied, determined to show she had been paying attention to the theoretical lessons and basics when they had been in discussion on board the Gryffindor.

Harry nodded with a pleased air as they walked up the steps to the elongated porch. He lead them inside the house, into the entrance way. Shaak Ti looked around the large warehouse-like space curiously.

Harry turned to Shaak Ti who seemed to be able to get over shocks much faster than either of the other two had managed,

"It's been awhile since I've had a checkup," said Harry as he grinned in a manner no patient typically did before an exam. "Though like I said, if you're a proctologist, this is going to be the shortest medical exam in the history of.. ever."

Shaak Ti removed her backpack as she looked at him curiously. "How long has it been?" She asked almost idly, as she crouched on the ground to begin moving a handful of small machines.

"That's… a good question," Harry mused. "I sorta became my own doctor after a certain point. Which isn't saying much, as while my knowledge of biology is extensive, my knowledge of healing tends to be focusing my magic and 'fix whatever the hell is wrong.'"

Shaak Ti frowned at that statement, not really understanding all of it, but a look from Aayla told her that she definitely shouldn't ask for clarification if she ever actually wanted to get to the exam. "Do you have a table I can use?"

"Sure," he said, before he stopped himself from simply conjuring one. He did not know this new person and was not going to just show off magic skills with someone here to investigate, especially from the Jedi's Council. And his other two guests both seemed rather not pleased with the idea of memory charms.

He turned and walked over to a wall, and with a grunt of effort pulled a large oak dining table out from the place where it had been unceremoniously pushed out of the way. The table had been finely carved from wood. The table was the one he usually ate on when he stopped to do so, usually he just ate wherever he happened to be. Out of habit he added a sticking charm to the table as he set it down so that it wouldn't be easily moved.

Shaak Ti raised an eyebrow at the clearly antique table, wondering how Harry had managed to get such a thing down on the ground level of Kashyyyk before she set her bag on it and removed several devices setting them on the table as she did. "You said you hurt your arm?" Shaak Ti inquired.

"He didn't hurt his arm. It was just gone. Completely vaporized. And this doesn't even take into account the blaster bolt you took on Nar Shaddaa!" Aayla interjected huffily, a memory of him with the injury floating in her mind.

Harry shrugged his shoulders, "It wasn't the most painful thing I've ever had cut off. And the blaster bolt was just an inconvenience because I was sloppy."

Shaak Ti raised an eyebrow at Harry but when he didn't look like he was going to be volunteering any more information she pressed on. "Can you please remove your shirt?"

Aayla actually smacked her forehead when she heard those words uttered, while Ahsoka merely broke out into uncontrolled giggles, knowing a perfect setup for a comment from the wizard when they heard one.

Harry grinned and winked at Aayla. "See. I appreciate an attractive Jedi that knows how to get right down to business. Unlike Blue here, who's just a tease."

Aayla actually growled at the words, causing more shock to Shaak Ti than the initial statement from Harry.

"You should take lessons!" He added cheekily, he did however pull his shirt up and off his shoulders, tossing it aside.

Shaak Ti was distracted looking back and forth between the two during their byplay of taunting and responding growls.

Ahsoka and Aayla's eyes were drawn to Harry's form. Though they had both seen it this was really the first time that he was just sitting there without it. He was muscled and lithe, and there was more than a few faded scars across his torso. Though one clearly stood out above the rest, a faded jagged line on the right side of his chest, almost identical in shape, if larger than the one on his head.

The arm in question was quite clearly there and didn't show any sort of sign of being damaged at all. Nor was there any scarring on the half of his body which had faced the detonator blast head on consistent with the wounds Aayla had seen on him.

"Do you need me to remove my pants too?" Harry asked, his tone innocent but his eyes were clearly twinkling madly as he allowed Shaak Ti to poke and prod at his shoulder and arm. "I mean, I certainly can if needed. Blue here stands around half naked most of the time, after all."

"I do not stand around half-naked," Aayla shot back.

"You kinda do..." Ahsoka inserted with a lightly taunting tone.

"Hey no need to get defensive. I certainly wasn't complaining!" Harry grinned playfully before Aayla could turn on Ahsoka. "Of course if I _was _complaining then it would be about the 'half' part."

Shaak Ti was pressing her fingers into the skin along Harry's arm, listening to the two of them with as much interest as she was performing her examination of the human in front of her. Her fingers prodded the muscle and she could feel. However she wasn't just looking at Harry physically. What was equally distracting was that she couldn't sense anything from Harry at all. Even touching him didn't seem to register his presence within the Force.

"I can't see any evidence of anything mechanical," Shaak Ti leaned back and shook her head, shrugging her shoulders at Aayla helplessly. There was more confusion and uncertainty in her tone than she was used to.

"His arm was gone, along with part of his side and face, I saw it. I felt it." Aayla defended glaring at Harry as if the fact that his body was whole now offended her.

"This is a real genuine arm?" Shaak Ti inquired of Harry, quite obviously trusting the word of her fellow Jedi Master. "How did you replace it? I've never seen cloned organs where the match was so exact after reattachment."

Her voice was uncertain though, because looking at the arm showed at least two light scars and marks that were faded and clearly years old. Those scars wouldn't be there if the arm had been created from cloned tissue of some sort and then attached after the fact. It would be bare of any marks or scarring save for any that were genetic like moles or birthmarks.

"My people have potions capable of some… interesting things," Harry shrugged lithely. "With the help of my wife Daphne we developed a potion to regenerate lost limbs."

Technically the statement was the truth, it just wasn't the answer to her question. However Harry was not going to get into detailed explanations of his own physiology, much less his own capabilities with someone he had just met. Especially since Ahsoka didn't seem to feel all that well disposed towards her.

Shaak Ti stared at him, her neutral expression falling away as she stared, too focused on Harry's words to sense the misleading part of his statement. "You can administer something to regenerate lost limbs?"

The smile that crossed Harry's face was a mix between mysterious and mischievous, "Among many… many other things."

"I would be very interested in seeing this. That is one thing that even a bacta bath isn't capable of. Does it only work for humans? Perhaps it could be adapted to work for other species," Shaak Ti spoke, rare excitement entering her voice before her eyes narrowed in suspicion. "If what you say is true. You could be a very very rich person."

"Meh," the shirtless Harry replied with complete apathy, "I have plenty of money."

After nearly a full minute of regarding Harry's smirk, Shaak Ti realized that Harry had no intention of expanding further, so she turned to Aayla and said, "He seems perfectly healthy to me."

Her tone conveyed her reservations about the man though. He was quite obviously a mass of walking contradictions that she needed more information if she was to have a hope of understanding. She assumed that Aayla would have more insight into him.

Harry's grin grew wider while Aayla's expression grew even more pinched and irritated. It certainly didn't help things when he winked at her again, "If you narrow your eyes any further you might as well close them."

Aayla opened her mouth to reply but before she could snap at Harry, Shaak Ti interjected to Harry curiously, "Would you allow me to draw a blood sample?"

She was already holding the device that would check his blood, but she stilled when she saw Harry's face had turned hard and his entire body had tensed. There was no mistaking the sudden caution in his mannerisms.

Harry stared at her for at least ten seconds before he finally said, in one of the rare times that Ahsoka and Aayla had heard him use an utterly serious voice. The only other time they had heard it was when Harry first realized the wookiees were being attacked. "You may draw my blood, but I will require that it doesn't leave my presence and I _will_ watch you destroy it after you finish whatever test you intend to run."

"There is one thing that is precious to everyone who can access magic, and that is their blood," Harry was aware of the attention on him, so he spoke quietly and firmly to all of them, not a trace of joking on his face or in his tone. "Freely given blood, can be used to heal, curse, destroy, and do any number of absolutely horrid things to someone. The same can be said of forcibly taken blood if one is unprepared."

He turned to Aayla and Ahsoka, "It's one of the things you must always be conscious of. Do not give your blood, or allow it to be deliberately and consciously taken."

All three women looked like they wanted to ask exactly what could be done. But Harry shook his head slightly, not willing to get into it.

He turned to Shaak Ti, and held out his arm, his countenance continuing to convey the seriousness of the circumstances at hand.

Shaak Ti hesitated under Harry's gaze and despite her desire to know, felt compelled to be honest with the man after he expressed such seriousness. "Taking your blood is not strictly necessary. I admit to some curiosity about your midi-chlorian count."

Harry's head tilted and a puzzled expression crossed his face. "My whata whata what?"

"Your Midi-Chlorian count," Shaak Ti repeated as she exchanged a look with the other two Jedi. As Harry's face still reflected confusion, her tone switched to explanatory. "It's part of what gives life, life and is found in the blood of all living beings. It generally determines how much potential someone has to wield and feel the Force. Quite simply, The higher the count, the more potential."

"Huh. So you think you've found a way to scientifically determine if someone is a magical or not. That's…. interesting." Harry's voice was musing as he considered that. He hadn't really bothered looking into anything medical as it related to the Jedi. All efforts he had ever been aware of had been ultimately unsuccessful.

"I am curious because I feel the Force around here. But... unlike Master Secura and Ahsoka Tano, I cannot feel you within the Force at all. It is… a puzzle," She left unsaid that hiding oneself was a skill most prominently used by disciples of the dark side of the Force.

Harry had a wicked grin on his face, "Well if you wanted to feel me, all you have to do is ask…"

Shaak Ti's mouth twitched ever so slightly but otherwise showed no change in her demeanor as she regarded him.

He took in her expression and his tone turned more serious once more, "And how do you count my Midi-whatsis's?"

"It only requires a… small prick, Harry," She smiled beatifically, as she held up the small medical device. "Something I wonder if you're intimately familiar with?"

The different reactions to this were priceless. Both Ahsoka and Aayla's mouths dropped in shock. But Harry… seemed elated beyond compare "It seems like the Jedi Order didn't manage to kill your sense of humor completely. Oh, I think I might actually eventually like you… maybe."

"Sorry, I can't say the same," Shaak Ti responded with a bit of a smug smile. "It takes more than a mere small prick and boasts of grandeur to excite me."

"Exciting a woman when I've set my mind to it has never been a problem for me," Harry chuckled and held out his arm once more, far more eager to satisfy this request suddenly than any other previous request any of the three women had previously made. "I freely give my blood, for this one circumstance."

Shaak Ti blinked as she felt a small surge in the Force. When nothing else happened she took a small device and pressed it against his hand for a moment. Harry felt a sharp pinch and then nothing as she pulled back the device. She held the device up and then turned to one of the machines on the table, sliding the small device in. The device beeped after a moment and she peered at the little screen with a frown.

"That's… odd." Shaak Ti pressed a few buttons on the machine.

"What does it say?" Aayla asked curiously, she had after all tried to see the same thing when she had taken the blood from off of her skin. A fleeting thought occurred to her that her results had been gotten without his permission.

Shaak Ti tilted her head as she read the results. "I don't know… the reading it has just keeps changing. It can't seem to figure out what to read, but it keeps bouncing all over the place, including right off the charts in both directions."

"Try adjusting the charts?" Harry ventured.

Shaak Ti shook her head, "Not an actual chart, just a number but the number is continuously changing."

"Maybe it's broken." Harry offered helpfully. "Try smacking it on something! That sometimes works for me!"

He turned to Ahsoka, "Alas, the two morons we met back on Coruscant aren't here. Their heads would've certainly been hard enough."

Shaak Ti hesitated before nodding, more to the first comment. Harry's second 'helpful' recommendation was dutifully ignored. She pulled the smaller device from the bigger machine and pressed it quickly to her own hand.

There was a small hiss from the machine before she efficiently pushed it back in the bigger device. Shaak Ti quickly shook her head. "It's not the device. My reading is always between seventeen and eighteen thousand, which is where it's reading right now."

"Isn't Master Yoda's reading around twenty thousand?" asked Ahsoka, her voice still cool to the Jedi Master, but also asking to give Harry some clue as to the numbers they were talking about without him remaining utterly clueless. Though she wasn't sure whether he would really care.

"Yes," Master Shaak Ti confirmed. "The only reading ever recorded as higher was Anakin Skywalkers, which we've estimated to be around 22 to 23 thousand."

"So what does that mean for Harry's readings?" asked Aayla as she glanced at him, still sitting there shirtless on the table.

"Harry's readings should read accurately… But his rating just continues to change up and down. Not in any discernible pattern," Shaak Ti explained as she continued to examine the readouts.

Harry sighed disappointedly, "Probably because my blood is... unique," he chose carefully after he considered and discarded several synonyms.

At Shaak Ti's inquiring and curious gaze, Harry grimaced and gestured at the medical device, "Can that scan for other stuff?"

"It's a fairly standard medical diagnostic tool." Shaak Ti replied, her head tilting ever so slightly to the side in wordless inquiry.

"Can it do a scan for exotic substances that aren't blood?" Harry asked mildly. "Say… a test for poison, just to pick one."

"It _is_ a medical scanner... It can do a scan for toxins and pathogens…" Shaak Ti trailed off as her fingers moved across the screen of the medical scanner quickly. "By the Force… that can't be right…"

"What is it?" Aayla asked looking over Shaak Ti's shoulder, trying to see what had shaken her friend's composure.

Harry rolled his eyes slightly and looked resigned to the looks of confusion now directed at him from Aayla.

Shaak Ti's fingers had long since stopped moving over the device as she looked up at Harry, glancing repeatedly between Harry and the readout. Her voice was level as she spoke, but still managed to betray more than a little surprise, "According to this you should be dead… _very_ dead."

"Lady, if I had a galleon for every time I heard that…" Harry shook his head ruefully, well aware that the women had no idea what a galleon was.

"What is it?" Ahsoka demanded, for the first time speaking directly to Shaak Ti.

"While it cannot seem to get a reading on midi-chlorians, it is registering the toxicity levels in his blood sample as literally off the charts. The scanner is saying there are dozens of different identified toxins present, maybe more…. and even more unidentified substances." Shaak Ti replied, her eyes narrowing in suspicion. "As in the toxins in that small blood sample alone could kill… I don't know... thousands."

Aayla and Ahsoka's expressions were more of surprise than of suspicion.

"I've been bitten by some pretty nasty magical things in the past," Harry frowned, "Nor does it take into account the amount of times there were attempts to poison me."

"Bitten by magical things?" Shaak Ti asked dryly.

"Attempts to poison you?" Aayla said at nearly the same moment in surprise.

"Yeah, I had to fight magical creatures on more than one occasion and got myself bit, or breathed on, or sprayed, or stung, or slobbered on." Harry shrugged, "I nabbed my first at age 12, a ruddy great snake, with pretty much sheer blind luck and then it happened with some regularity after that."

"Snakes are regularly venomous." Shaak Ti observed. "Many exist on this world in fact."

Harry rolled his eyes and a trace of scorn entered his voice, "Yes, thank you for that tutorial on snakes. Tell me, how many species of those snakes have the ability to petrify or kill by sight alone?"

"Well, several of them hunt prey that will freeze, usually because their prey believes an attempt to remain still will mean that a predator will not see them." Shaak Ti replied.

"No, I mean petrify in the literal sense, as in turning someone to stone." Harry replied dryly.

"None… that I'm aware of. That is the sort of things you hear in myths and legends," Shaak Ti replied. "I am aware of no verified animal of that nature."

"Lack of proof is not proof of lack," Harry retorted dryly. "I killed one, and it was about 60 meters or so long."

"That… that.. would make it an incredibly powerful apex predator and possibly one of the most dangerous animals in the galaxy," Shaak Ti breathed out.

"Wasn't even the most dangerous animal that I faced. Don't get me started on clutch protecting dragons or nundus," Harry grumbled as he shook his head in disgust.

Shaak Ti looked flummoxed and glanced to Aayla and Ahsoka for assistance, Aayla spoke up almost immediately, "What about the attempts at poisoning you mentioned?"

"Kreacher was a bad house elf," Dobby stated as he popped into existence with his arms folded and a scowl on his face. The action causing Shaak Ti to jerk in surprise once more but the other two seemed to be used to it by this point.

Harry blinked and then a look of realization crossed his face. He actually chuckled. "Dobby, I really meant genuine attempts on my life… I'd actually forgotten all about that."

"There was another house elf that served one of the families from which I inherited head of house." Harry started to explain, seeing the looks on the faces of the others and figuring he might as well answer their inevitable questions. "He apparently had a bit of a contest with one of his former Masters, in which he would randomly attempt to poison the Head of House, while they would have to realize their food was poisoned before eating or ingest a bezoar to counteract the effects of the poison."

"The Head of House before me apparently ordered the house elf not to do it to him after the first time he tried." Harry shook his head wryly. "Kreacher took those orders literally and stopped doing it to _him_, but then restarted when I inherited."

"Bad Kreacher." Dobby reiterated and huffed with a little stomp of his foot with his chin raised imperiously.

"Truthfully he was doing it to my food for _years_ before we realized it was happening. I didn't even notice. He was quite creative with the variety of poisons he used," Harry shrugged a bit and looked back at Shaak Ti, "I'm sure some of that gunk is still in my blood, which is probably why you can't get the other reading off me. Your little magic measurer thing probably doesn't know which one to focus on at any given time."

"I don't understand how you can still be living with blood like this." Shaak Ti confessed.

"Ah, yeah. My blood also has a remarkably powerful healing curative mixed in with it. Not sure if you can isolate that from the rest of the gunk. The tears of the phoenix, which is another magical species, initially in there to counteract the basilisk venom inside of me." Harry added, usually he wasn't so forthcoming but he was enjoying the constant looks of befuddlement.

"You mean a Corosian phoenix?" asked Aayla.

"No, though they're beautiful birds, they're not really magical. I went looking for them when I first heard of them. They're nothing like real phoenixes," Harry shook his head, and then blinked as a thought occurred to him. "Can that test the blood of anything?"

At Shaak Ti's curious nod Harry looked thoughtful for a moment. "Let's see if we can check something then."

Harry's curiosity had been piqued. He may never have studied medical spells but he certainly studied blood and bodies enough over his years as a potioneer. He had never found anything he thought might be a link to magic use. So he was curious and he turned to look at the house elf who stood beside him with his arms crossed "Dobby."

"Yes, Master Harry?" The house elf looked up at him curiously.

Harry kneeled down a little bit, to better look Dobby in the eye. "Dobby, this lady here would like to take a sample of your blood to test it. Would you let her?"

"What does third lady with longest tentacles want with Dobby's blood?" Dobby looked up at the woman suspiciously

Harry restrained a chuckle at Dobby's newest naming convention. "This is Master Shaak Ti. And they want to check it to see if they can figure out our magic and how it works."

"Magic… is magic. Even Dobby knows this," He sounded like he was explaining something to a dense five year old.

Shaak Ti, who was definitely curious about the little being, mimicked Harry's pose by crouching down slightly in front of the house elf. A glance from Harry told her that she had made the right move. "Dobby I'm just curious. I promise you it won't hurt."

Dobby hesitated and looked at Harry who kept his face carefully neutral. Dobby looked indecisive before he held out his hand.

Shaak Ti gently took his hand and pressed the device to it quickly before pulling back. "Thank you Dobby."

Dobby nodded and then popped out.

Shaak Ti shook her head slightly and put the smaller device in the reader once more. After a few moments her eyebrows rose dramatically, "That's… that's not possible," Her calm facade was completely lost for a moment.

"What is it?" Aayla was quickly peering over her friend's shoulder once more.

"This says Dobby… has no midichlorians." Shaak Ti said quietly.

"How low are we talking about?" Aayla asked, curiosity reflected in her tone.

"I'm not talking low… I'm talking none..." Shaak Ti replied absently as she continued to try and move and calibrate the machine. "It can't get any reading on any sort of sample..."

Harry's shoulder lifted in an unconcerned motion, "It's really not that surprising." He realized that they weren't going to be offering any unique insights, he was a trifle disappointed, but his statement was accurate; he really wasn't shocked.

"Harry, that reading… is impossible. There's no life without them. Certainly no possibility of someone manipulating the Force," Aayla explained, hoping that Harry would understand a bit better.

"And how many of those life forms are purely magical? The origins of his race may be lost to time but the idea generally held was that they were created out of pure magic… isn't really all that farfetched," He turned to Ahsoka, "I told you before. Dobby needed to be bonded to someone to survive. His very existence requires active magic taken from another. So as a biological entity, he's fairly unique."

Shaak Ti looked up sharply from the medical tool at that statement. "What do you mean he needs to be bonded to someone to survive?"

"His race is symbiotic, they need to serve a witch or wizard to survive. Dobby feeds off my magic. In return I am his Master," Harry explained succinctly.

"You bound a creature into servitude using the Force?!" Shaak Ti gasped.

Harry's eyes immediately turned cold, and his expression went flat. "Dobby is my _friend. _ I _freed_ Dobby from his abusive masters, after he risked his life to warn me of danger. I had no idea that Dobby bonded himself to me until _years_ later. I've offered to free him countless times. It took a couple of dozen offers before I got him to stop sobbing and begging me not to give him clothes."

"Give him clothes?" Ahsoka who had been uncharacteristically silent throughout the exchange asked as she considered all the different outfits she had seen the little creature wear.

"Yeah, it's how I free him. Deliberately handing him clothes or something with clothes in it. Whatever wizard or group originally created his race had a twisted sense of humor, and so made it that a Master has to give them clothes to sever the bond," Harry's voice warmed a bit as he answered Ahsoka's question, glad she hadn't jumped to conclusions. "As it is, he has standing orders that if he ever wants me to release him, he only has to ask."

"But if that means he is going to die, that is hardly an order he will ever follow," said Shaak Ti scathingly.

"Actually, since I gave it to him in the form of an order, it is something he _has_ to obey," Harry shot back sharply. "He is physically incapable of disobeying a direct order."

Shaak Ti's face went carefully neutral and guarded. "So it _is_ slavery. And he truly has no freedom."

Harry put two fingers to his eyes and rubbed them slowly with a deep sigh. "Dobby!"

Dobby reappeared with a pop. "Yes, Master Harry?"

"Dobby, Jedi Master Shaak Ti thinks you are a slave," Harry said with a wave of his hand.

Dobby narrowed his eyes and stared up at the woman who looked down at him with sympathy in her stance. "Does Missti think Dobby is slave?"

After a careful glance at Harry who waved his hand at her, encouraging her to go ahead, Shaak Ti knelt down next to the odd creature once more to look carefully at him, her tone compassionate. "Dobby… the definition of slavery is one where you do not have a choice, you must follow orders and if you leave, you are killed."

Dobby looked at the woman for a long moment before he turned back to Harry with a disappointed shake of his head. "Master Harry has found another one."

"To be fair, I didn't find her, she found us." Harry replied somewhat defensively, though there was also amusement in his tone.

"Serves Master Harry right for being lazy," Dobby stated before he turned back to stare defiantly at Shaak Ti. "Dobby is Master Harry Potter's house elf."

"And friend." Harry supplemented helpfully.

Shaak Ti looked at Harry with something akin to a glare before looking down at Dobby once more. "Friends do not call one another Master."

Dobby tilted his head and replied curiously "Miss Ti calls Miss Blue Master! You are not friends?"

Shaak Ti hesitated and then rather than get into the intricacies of titles and the respect, especially to a being whose interactions seemed simple, though she knew better than to judge based simply on someone linguistic characteristics. "Friends do not control one another Dobby. Free means being able to make your own choices, without any sort of threat hanging over you. You should be free."

Dobby shook his head and a sad expression crossed his face. "She is just like Master Harry's Miss Grangy."

Harry allowed a wistful smile to cross his face before it turned wry. "She grew out of it as she grew up… eventually… kinda." he finished somewhat sheepishly.

"Maybe Missti will grow out of it when she grows up too!" Dobby commented helpfully, "Or like Master Harry used to say about Miss Grangy, she will learn better after she removes large stick imbedded in her posterior." He nodded before disappearing with another pop.

Shaak Ti looked more than a little affronted at the creature's comment before her focus was once more taken up by his disappearance, it was something she had never encountered before and even seeing it multiple times hadn't dulled all of the shock away.

"Did you get all the information you needed from our blood?" Harry asked, his tone cordial but firm as his eyes focused on her machine deliberately.

Shaak Ti had been about to ask about the teleportation when Harry changed topics, causing her to hesitate and then realized what the look was for and removed the smaller sampling devices from the larger medical scanner and then pressed a button on them so they self sterilized, returning to shiny and chrome.

"Thank you." Harry nodded a little bit, looking relaxed now that he had witnessed the disposal, he tilted his head curiously, "Was there anything else you needed?"

Shaak Ti shook her head and looked around at the room once more, seemingly unprepared for having nothing to do.

"Harry, do you mind if I talk to Shaak Ti privately for a bit?" Aayla spoke up quickly.

Harry hesitated a moment before he shrugged, "Sure. Knock yourself out. Let me know when you're ready to go, and I'll take you out beyond the wards so you can head back."

He paused and actually looked sheepish for a moment, "Or If you prefer, I can take you directly to any of the spaceports here on the planet you want to go to. You did venture down here to check on me after all."

Harry grabbed his shirt and glanced over at Ahsoka. "C'mon if I'm going to teach you, I probably should actually take time for some actual instruction."

Ahsoka glanced at the Jedi Masters who were staring at her. Shaak Ti's expression was more surprised than Aayla's but both seemed to be rather jarred by Harry's remark. Ahsoka allowed herself a small smirk unable to pass up a golden opportunity, "As you wish, _Master." _

Her eyes traced his torso as he tugged his shirt back on unable to stop a small blush as it climbed on her cheeks, before she followed him out the door, it swinging closed behind her seemingly of its own volition.

When they were outside, Harry turned to face her with his arms crossed and an amused smile on his face. "So, what's your issue with our guest?"

Ahsoka stiffened to look at him before shaking her head. "There's no issue."

"Right, which is why the ambient temperature dropped about twenty degrees whenever she spoke to you, or you spoke to her," Harry replied sarcastically, amusement still on his features.

"It's nothing," Ahsoka replied somewhat defensively.

"Do you want me to kick her out now?" Harry's expression lost its amusement. When she turned a surprise look on him, he shrugged his shoulders, "If I'm really taking you on as my student, then your words carry weight. Besides… I've known you longer, and I definitely like you a whole hell of a lot more. And while you've certainly made events more exciting in the past week or so…I'm not going to keep people around who you think are a cause for concern or I have to worry might be a danger to you."

"No… no it's nothing like that," Ahsoka shook her head, noting that Harry had omitted danger to himself. She chose her words carefully. "Just… there are some people who you look up to that end up disappointing you and that disappointment can linger."

"Ah. One of those." Harry said nodding in a way that made Ahsoka believe that he had understood everything she had left unsaid.

She shook her head and then held up her wand, her expression brightening. "So are you going to teach me some magic?"

oOoooOooOOooOoooOo

The two Jedi Masters watched Ahsoka follow Harry out of the door while it shut behind them.

"Apprentice and Master…" Shaak Ti said quietly, her voice filled with concern as she turned her head to look at Aayla with an inquiring look.

Aayla looked uncomfortable and smiled weakly, "To be fair, Harry refers to her as a student. The Master thing is all Ahsoka's doing. It seems to be more to irritate him than it is anything else. Harry does not seem like he stands on ceremony."

Shaak Ti shook her head a little bit and gestured toward the door while her gaze fell on Aayla. "Even I can see the attachment formed. That is not the relationship between a Jedi and a padawan. It is one between a Master and an Apprentice."

"He has saved her life multiple times, as well as mine at least once," Aayla defended half-heartedly as she slumped a little bit and leaned against the table for support. She was well aware that her thoughts mirrored Shaak Ti's. While the terms weren't all that different, the emphasis placed on them implied the relationship of a Sith Master and pupil.

"He has asked for almost nothing while he does this, in fact, it's just the opposite. But he clearly has protected her and more than earned her trust," Aayla said with a sigh.

"She is… _remarkably_ trusting of him." Shaak Ti observed, her tone becoming more neutral.

"I know… But to be perfectly honest… that's just one of the things that worries me," Aayla rubbed the bridge of her nose.

Shaak Ti raised her eyebrow curiously as she looked at her fellow Jedi Master. "Oh?"

"She trusts Harry, implicitly after what he's done for her," Aayla said as she gestured around herself. "He's someone who uses the Force in ways I've never imagined possible."

Aayla frowned realizing from a tug in the Force that she was skirting the edges of her oath. "And to top it off, even though I trust you, I can't actually tell you about any of the specifics because of the oath I swore to him."

"I would not ask you to violate your word of honor," Shaak Ti replied.

Aayla was about to open her mouth, then grimaced and stopped herself. She was unsure if the oath covered discussion of the nature of the oath itself. She decided to let it pass for now.

Aayla wasn't sure what Shaak Ti's purpose here was now. She wasn't sure, but she thought perhaps Shaak Ti, known for being logical, might understand the wisdom of the secrecy oath they had given. If she took one then Aayla hoped she could discuss it all she wanted with her if Harry released her from that portion of the vow like he had done to Ahsoka. "Suffice it to say they're wide and varied."

Shaak Ti raised an eyebrow and then very deliberately looked Aayla up and down, and there was no mistaking the small smile on her face. "I have gotten that impression. Though I am curious as to your overall impression of the man."

Aayla flushed, having forgotten that her skin was still pink. "Yes.. and these abilities are wielded by a man who I am not convinced is entirely mentally balanced."

"That's a very loaded response, Aayla. What do you mean?" asked Shaak Ti quietly.

"He… rarely seems to react in a way I expect, even without knowledge of his culture," Aayla said after a moment's consideration. "Oh, he's extremely competent in a fight, but… from the evidence we've seen he quite clearly has attachments. I know for a fact that he's had wives… and children. But I haven't gotten him to talk about his history much at all."

Shaak Ti's eyebrows rose but she remained silent as Aayla continued to explain.

"The reason they were on Nar Shaddaa is because he seems to be searching for people. Ahsoka said she thought it might be searching for others like him, or from his planet. That and he uses the Force completely different from us… is about all I know of his history," Aayla shook her head in frustration,

"Oh, and his mother sacrificed herself to save him from a Dark Lord when he was a baby," Aayla added belatedly, feeling more than a little guilty not bringing that bit up sooner.

"But the rest? He just… doesn't react like he should. Most of the time it's like he views almost everything like a game. But occasionally he gets serious and direct. Allowing his emotions to influence him… while keeping them under control," Aayla looked frustrated as she tried to explain what she meant.

"He deals with slavers and clearly feels anger but simply turns them over to the wookiees to deal with. He feels compassion and spends time counseling freed slaves. Allows me to come with him after believing I was a spy or an assassin… and then loses an arm saving my life… and his parting comment, before he disappears and miraculously regrows the arm and half his skin… is a lewd comment about my breasts," Aayla said as she shook her head, her tone filled with exasperation.

Shaak Ti had been quiet the entire time Aayla half explained, and half ranted about Harry. She could honestly see how someone like Harry could bother someone like Aayla. Aayla had not had an easy time at the Temple, and had been vilified on more than one occasion for her tendency to follow her emotions and get too involved in the missions she was assigned.

She had fought long and hard to earn the reputation she had, and here was a clearly powerful Force user, who seemed to embody every emotion and desire that Aayla herself had been denied. Shaak Ti was observing that first hand. On one hand he seemed easygoing and friendly, but on the other there was an edge to him. Shaak Ti was honestly torn on her impression of him, between suspicion and interest.

She decided to push her friend a little bit for her insight from her senses. She put her hands on Aayla's shoulders, focusing the other's attention on her while she looked her square in the eye, "Aayla, take a deep breath, and simply describe him."

Aayla opened her mouth, but Shaak Ti cut her off quickly. "Not his abilities, not his history. Him."

Aayla took a few moments to gather herself, then began to speak, "He is a walking contradiction. At times he seems disturbed… unbalanced, but he's not psychotic. He's caring… But sometimes he just kinda zones out. so much, that he'll drift off in the middle of the conversation and he has to be... snapped back into focus."

"He can be an asshole and drive me crazy," Aayla said, a bit of frustration showing through. "Also, from what I've heard that he did on Coruscant, as well as seen on Nar Shaddaa, he is dangerous as hell, but given how he saved me, he also has a massive protective streak."

Shaak Ti looked like she definitely wanted more information on that, but Aayla pre-empted her by shaking her head. "I can't actually say anything on what I saw, due to my oath."

Shaak Ti's eyes narrowed. "That is the second time you've said that you _can't."_

Aayla hesitated and spoke slowly, "I gave Harry an oath, one via the Force itself that I would not divulge any of the magic that I saw him perform."

The other Jedi Master regarded her friend carefully. She knew there was some that Aayla wasn't saying but the fact that Harry used the Force to compel agreement to an oath beyond a being's integrity was another worrying sign for her.

Aayla's expression darkened as she scowled a bit, "He's a sarcastic ass, who'd flirt with a hole in the wall if he thought it would rile the wall up or get any kind of response. You saw how he seemed thrilled you cut his legs out from under him when you said he had a small…" She trailed off unable to bring herself to say it, her memory of her vision striking clearly.

"Prick?" asked Shaak Ti a trace of amusement on her face at Aayla's discomfort, but Aayla just gave a dirty look and continued on.

"Right. He didn't get angry when you insulted him. He was amused," Aayla then gestured around at the warehouse, "And then there's Dobby."

"Who somehow lives despite no midi-chlorian count, and who, despite his protests to the contrary, seems to be by definition, a slave to Mister Potter, albeit a willing one. But also one who manages to disappear and reappear from my senses using the Force." Shaak Ti commented, summing up what she had gotten from the being in the small amount of time she had seen him.

"That's ignoring the fact he apparently requires a bond to Harry in order to live," Aayla commented, not touching on Dobby's abilities.

"If what Harry has told us is true, then logic dictates that he derives his ability to direct the Force _from_ Harry. Follow those thoughts to their logical conclusion," Shaak Ti murmured, though she didn't bother voicing the idea that Dobby was absorbing Force from Harry. She just had no way to gauge the powers Dobby had displayed, though aside from the floating balls of fire she hadn't seen any sign of Harry using the Force.

"Oh! Let's not forget!" Aayla interjected. "Apparently, Harry is to be believed and I have little reason to doubt the only thing that prevents the little being from potentially going on a rampage of pure chaos is a strict adherence to the 'orders' that Harry gives him."

"Of course, Harry also has no qualms about rescinding all orders like he did during the slaver raid, which resulted in an entire ship's worth of Trandoshan slavers being spaced _and _attached to the outer hull of their ship in some sort of macabre warning that the wookiees apparently are in love with," Aayla summarized though there was no comment on how this was achieved. She fell quiet, looking down at the ground and not meeting her friend's gaze.

Shaak Ti observed her friend's behavior and said nothing, deciding not to pry; instead allowing Aayla time to compose her thoughts. She busied herself with the loosening of her heavy robes a bit, which were still quite warm from the journey between the upper canopy and the forest floor.

They now hung loose and open at the front, showing that underneath was thick straps of fabric that ran vertically preserving her modesty but allowing utter freedom of movement if she ditched her robes while it also hinted at expanses of red skin. Her patience was rewarded a few minutes later as Aayla finally broke the silence.

"And then…. and then there are the visions I keep seeing when I've meditated around him," Aayla's voice came softly.

Shaak Ti nodded a little bit "You described your visions to the Council."

Aayla nodded in affirmation, "Yes, that was the first vision I had back when I first tried sought guidance from the Force around Harry while on Nar Shaddaa."

"I was stressed, tired, and had nowhere else to turn when I meditated at that point, so I wonder if the Force made the vision more about motivating me with images that would inspire me to follow him at the time," She paused before she continued her voice very quiet. "But, I held some things back from the vision. Things… which the Council would have frowned upon had they known."

She knew she was confessing to another member of the Jedi High Council, but Shaak Ti had long been a confidant for Aayla. Shaak Ti wasn't much older than her, but always seemed to be far more self-possessed than she was. Aayla knew that Shaak Ti would give her honest feedback even if she was in the wrong, but she wouldn't snap to judgment the way some of the other Jedi Masters would.

"What did you see about him?" asked Shaak Ti with some concern in her voice.

"It wasn't about... him, at least not about him alone," said Aayla, and just how lost she was at the moment was never more apparent with the sudden downturn in her mood. "There were… personal elements in that first vision at the end, keeps flashing in my visions whenever I meditate. Just brief glimpses, an image, or a second or two."

"Aayla you should know from your first lessons at the Temple, that the future is always in motion. What you've seen may not come to pass. They are hints, possibilities, none of which may actually come true," Shaak Ti said calmly and reasonably.

When Aayla remained silent in response, Shaak Ti couldn't help but prod her for more answers. "Can you describe what you saw? You know that I will not judge you based upon a possible future that Force has gifted you with knowledge."

Aayla hesitated, looking up at Shaak Ti for a long moment before she nodded and looked down once more and spoke, quiet enough that Shaak Ti's enhanced hearing was required to pick up all the words.

"In my visions, I keep seeing Harry and I…" Her voice dropped to a whisper, "in very... intimate positions."

Shaak Ti merely raised a delicate brow in response.

Aayla shrugged self consciously and stared at the ground, she definitely did not want to get into specific images. "If it was once I could dismiss them. But, I mediated again last night, and saw the same images. They keep happening, and something about them feels...different. Content? Relieved? I don't know how to describe it."

"But you see no context? Nothing more than an image or two?" Shaak TI asked, her voice calm and without judgment.

Aayla nodded a little bit before stopping herself and then shaking her head. "Well… yes and no. At first, it was just a single image or brief glimpse of a small interaction, almost teasing in the Force as my initial glimpse of the future came to me Now though, It almost dominates my foresight more and more, in equal amounts with the visions of the war."

"It's not the same… 'embrace' every time. I can tell it's different occasions, and not just a solitary incident, but the mood is the same. I feel safe at the time, as well as… well... lust for him." Aayla voice dropped even further at the last part preparing for the inevitable reaction.

"I will reiterate what I said, the future is always in motion, just because you see things doesn't mean they _will_ come to pass. And I will also add this caveat. 'You don't know the circumstances behind what you see.'"

Aayla nodded a bit, it was nothing more than what she had been telling herself for days now. It was hardly reassuring. She looked up suddenly. "You… won't share that with the Council?"

Shaak Ti shook her head firmly. "I will share nothing of what you've told me now with the Council. Even if it were to come to pass."

Shaak Ti placed a hand on her shoulder. "You haven't done anything, Aayla. The Force has shown you a possible path, and one that you haven't taken. You have committed no wrong."

"Despite what some may say," and Aayla snorted at the indirect reference to hardliners within the high council, "It's not against the code to see a possible future in the Force. You are not responsibility for possibilities of things that only _might_ occur, and certainly not without any sort of context."

Aayla looked relieved and then seemed to steel herself. "There is one other thing. The biggest thing."

Shaak Ti tilted her head curiously, wondering what else she might be holding back.

Aayla turned to look at the door where Harry and Ahsoka had headed out a few minutes earlier. "My visions… tell me that the future is still at a crossroads. I'm upholding my part or at least what I understand of it. But… it still hinges on Harry."

Aayla's voice dropped and got soft. "He will have to choose between two paths. And those two paths will make the determination between having a chance for the Order to survive, or for it to be utterly destroyed."

"No matter which choice he makes, _he _is going to be hurt. One choice he will view as a betrayal on his part. The other… may cause him to lose himself." Aayla let the words hang in the air.

"Unfortunately I have no idea what the choices are or how I can help him," Aayla said as she slumped down.

"He must betray himself or lose himself… and with one of those decisions... the Jedi Order is lost?" mused Shaak Ti aloud.

Aalya shrugged helplessly. "I don't know. I'm not even sure I could tell you why I know that. It's just… what I got when I meditated last night. Getting not just images… but feelings"

Shaak Ti observed Aayla for several long moments before she nodded slowly. "We must always be careful when viewing the future. Understanding what it portends is always harder."

Her voice dropped a little bit. "Some of the older and more sensitive members of the Order have contended it's not the Dark Side of the Force that has been blocking our visions but the Force itself."

She shook her head waving off Aayla's surprised look. "Nothing to be concerned about, something I've just heard more than once."

Shaak Ti glanced up at the door. "I myself wish to meditate soon while in close proximity to him. I wish to see if my sight clears as much as yours and Ahsoka's has. I would also like to speak to Harry some more, if you don't mind. Get a bit more of a feel for him."

"He's hardly mine to give permission about speaking to," Aayla glanced down and suddenly arrowed her eyes, with an involuntary growl escaping her throat, "I also need to get him to change me back from pink."

With a goal in mind she turned and headed outside with a determined stride, while Shaak Ti followed her formerly blue friend at a far more sedate pace.

**oOooOoOOoOooOo**

She sat crossed legged in an empty and very small storage compartment. She took a slow indrawn breath. The first one she had taken in over an hour. She was deep in a meditative state, and while her eyes were closed, it made her no less aware of her surroundings. They didn't bother with life support to help conserve energy. Not like droids needed it anyway.

Without the Force, she would have suffocated from lack of oxygen two days ago, yet with its powers, she could easily sit here twice as long and be in no danger.

There was nothing to see in the little storage area. Even with enhanced senses provided by the Force, the compartment was pitch black. All her other senses were in tune with the environment and all the little disturbances that accompanied it, and she was completely aware of everything that happened around her.

She could feel the thrum of the ship beneath the deck plates as it traveled through hyperspace. The engines, were slightly overstrained, and was either due to needing an overhaul, or the lack of care and caution by those in charge of the ship. The ship had a distinct oscillation that her ears had quickly learned to ignore. Occasionally she could hear the rattle as the hard movement of feet hit the plates outside of her hiding place. Her senses regularly picked up the whir of servomotors as droids moved about the ship proceeding about their tasks. The droids that passed were oblivious to all that wasn't relevant to their current directives. She had little worry of being discovered as she had chosen this out of the way location of the ship deliberately. She knew the schedules of the ship's inhabitants, and knew they rarely deviated from their routines.

Her eyes closed, as there was no reason to not continue her meditations and preparations for battle. Her quarry drew closer every moment the smuggler's ship traversed the endless expanse of hyperspace, and she was determined not to fail this time.

Her skills and abilities in the Force had improved in the months she had spent in isolation, no matter how dismissive he might have been of her potential the last time they had interacted.

None of his tricks would allow him to escape her. His arrogance would be his undoing.

**oOooOoOOoOooOo**

**Author's Notes: DUN DUN DUN WHee! chapter!**

**1) It's a shorter chapter than some of my others, setting up some stuff. Introducing Shaak Ti, who I will say again IS NOT GOING TO END UP WITH HARRY. Also, seems to be some tension between the two Togruta. **

**2) People keep telling me that i'm bashing the Jedi. Harry simply dislikes the Jedi and has some legitimate reasons. But I'm giving you fair warning now. Stop reading now, because you will NOT like the next chapter :P **

**3) More history from Harry sneaking out! It's coming I promise. **

**4) Plums Piddlings - The intent behind this chapter came about REALLY early in our talks over IM's. We needed to ensure that no one simply had a paradigm-shift in values/dogma without constant discussions and even a few backslides. Was all that much in terms of plot really revealed in this chapter? No, not really, but I think it's more realistic. Could a lot of this be played off with summaries and time skips, or even not shown at all? Very likely, but i don't think it would be as interesting either. I've found personally that a deep character study can be almost as interesting as crazy plotlines, and I think Kat agrees with me. (Kat: Uh Duh?)**

**Is this building slowly? Ya, sure, ya betcha! And I don't think either of us would have it any other way for a story we're enjoying writing.**

**oOooOooOOooOooOo**

**Alternate Chapter Titles:**

"**Harry Potter is Lazy." - Dobby**

**"Harry's left arm. Not the most painful thing he's ever lost." - Ahsoka.**

"Don't even say it, Harry." - Aayla.

"**Harry Potter's small prick." - Aayla**

"A phrase never before uttered."- Harry Potter

**"Foreshadowing another twi'lek!" - Plums**

"No Plums, we cannot have Darth Talon time travel and appear in the story to add more Twilek's in lieu of the tentative third girl I have planned for Harry." - Kat to Plums.

"What if we-" Plums

"No." - Kat

"But what if we-" -Plums

"No."- Kat

*pouts*- Plums

"Besides, we just turned Aayla pink. That's a lightish red." - Kat

"But there's no tattoos and gratuitous violence."-still pouting Plums

**"Introducing Shaak Ti, counselor and healing Jedi." - Reader**

"Better than 'Shaak Ti, definitely not a proctologist."- Harry

"Does not stop her from having long stick shoved up posterior." - Dobby

"**Harry Potter is paranoid about people taking his blood."- Shaak Ti**

"Not like anything bad ever happened from someone taking my blood." - Harry.

"**That midi-chlorian thing was silly in the movies." - Star Wars fans**

"**Harry is not mentally balanced." - Aayla**

"Just Aayla? Not… everyone ever?" Ahsoka


	10. Unwanted Truths

~Chapter 10~

Unwanted Truths

The two women ventured outside and were more than a little surprised to find Harry and Ahsoka laying on the ground on their stomachs. They were facing each other with about a meter of space separating them. In between them was a small pile of stones.

Harry had his hands clenched in fist and one was resting on top of the other, while he was resting his chin on them. His focus was on Ahsoka and he was watching her intently. Ahsoka was pointing her wand at the pile of stones with a look of focus and concentration on her face.

The two Jedi Masters both stopped several yards from the group though they were close enough that they could make out what was being said. Aayla was surprised that Shaak Ti merely observed, only shooting Aayla a curious look before focusing back on the pair and wasn't asking why Ahsoka was pointing a stick at some rocks.

Harry seemed to be ignoring their presence entirely, "Okay, now that you've got what you want to change the rock into firmly in your mind. Apply the magic to make the change."

Ahsoka nodded a little bit and jabbed her wand slightly forward and nothing happened. She looked up at Harry with a slightly disappointed look on her face.

Harry shook his head, and his tone was reassuring, "No, you're thinking about the steps in the process. Don't. You've been taught to let the 'Force' guide you. This isn't like that. You can't be so passive. Focus on what you want to happen and then guide magic to do it. The wand will help you."

Harry was going to let her try it this way for a few times before he started encouraging her to use incantations to help her concentration. He just didn't want to because incantations were more of a handicap than anything. And he thought Ahsoka might be able to manage without them.

Ahsoka listened intently to Harry's instruction and nodded and then took a breath, gathering her concentration before waving her wand at the rock again. This time she felt the Force move through the wand.

There was a brief hesitation and a small shimmer and then one of the rocks, the one Ahsoka was pointing her wand at and focusing her attention on so intently, quivered and then slowly morphed into a small rodent, closely resembling a mouse. The mouse made a squeaking sound as it seemed to take in its surroundings.

Ahsoka squealed in pleasure. "It worked."

"Huh," Harry responded eloquently after a moment's pause.

He looked far more than a little surprised, though he reached out and snagged the mouse before it could scamper too far away. He stared at the mouse, looking at it with an impartial eye, turning it around in his hands. It still had a coloring like the rock. It's body was slightly harder than other rodents he was familiar with. He also noted that though they weren't easily visible, he could feel that just beneath the fur patches portions of the body were still stone and not flesh.

Ahsoka looked more than a little bit hurt at his surprised reaction, and it showed on her face. "Did you not think I could do it?"

Harry blinked at the question and hurt in her tone. He looked up from his examination of the rodent that was squirming slightly in his hands and shook his head.

"Not at all. I just… realized I didn't specify that you should change it to something inanimate," Harry said, sounding both abashed at his own oversight and amused at the situation. "I was assuming you were just trying to change it to a geometric shape..."

Ahsoka winced, thinking she had done something she shouldn't have. "Oh, I'm sorry, I didn't mean… I just remembered what you did at the bar in Nar Shaddaa, and thought I would try a smaller version of that."

"No no, you did nothing wrong. Just the opposite in fact," Harry reassured her as shook his head quickly and a grin appeared on it. "Turning an inanimate object to an animate object is actually way way harder. Normally you would transfigure inanimate to inanimate, and then animate to inanimate first. The third step in transfiguration is turning inanimate objects to animate ones. The only thing harder is changing one animate object into another."

"Merlin-forsaken over-achievers…" Harry grumbled playfully, though it was clear he was pleased, "I thought I was making it challenging by making you change something the size of a rock rather than a pebble… and it only took you two tries... My first transfiguration class I couldn't even turn a match into a needle."

Ahsoka actually beamed a bit with pride once she understood Harry's words before her attention returned to the mouse squirming in Harry's hand, "How long will it last?"

"Mm. It depends on how much power is put into the cast," Harry answered as he examined the mouse thoughtfully. "You were a bit tentative rather than trying to overpower your cast. Usually beginners have the exact opposite problem."

"Intent, will and power," Harry explained further, seeing her expression, "You had the first two, but you probably used just the bare minimum power required. Generous estimate is that there are probably no more than 10 minutes before it reverts back to a rock."

"Is… it alive?" Ahsoka inquired tentatively, in a worried tone as she looked at the now calming mouse in Harry's hands.

Harry smiled and shook his head, "No, you were picturing this rodent, and it's acting the way you consciously or subconsciously pictured it; which was probably like a rodent would act."

Harry pointed his finger at another rock sitting in a pile and narrowed his eyes slightly. Ahsoka and the two Jedi Masters felt a slight and brief surge in the Force and the rock transformed into a mouse similar to the one that Ahsoka had transfigured. Only this mouse was wearing the top of a suit, and had a top hat and a cane. It immediately began to dance in a circle in a complicated little dance, swinging the cane and top hat.

"It's acting that way because I pictured it acting that way. The transfiguration is simply responding to the commands of my conscious and subconscious," he explained as he chuckled a little bit.

Harry held up his hand with the other mouse still squirming in it. "If I were to cut this mouse open, I doubt you'd find anything resembling organs on the inside. Unless your focus was so detailed as to provide them. While my transfiguration might simulate organs and blood, it's neither alive nor does it have a soul."

As he was speaking the mouse in his hand gave a little quiver and shifted back into the form of the rock it was initially. Harry then presented the rock back to Ahsoka, and said in a very snooty voice, with his nose in the air, "And that, my dear Miss Tano, is Transfiguration! Ten points to you for such a fine job especially on only your second attempt."

She tilted her head slightly at the odd phrase but definitely beamed at his praise. Harry smiled and then gestured his dancing rodent turned back into a rock, and at the same time a section of the ground next to the rocks sloped downward and changed into a bowl with steep walls.

"I want you to change the rest of these rocks into something," Harry said.

"Into what?" an eager Ahsoka inquired.

"Anything. I would like to see a mix of animate and inanimate objects. Otherwise… surprise me," Harry said as he grinned and pushed himself from lying on his stomach up to a standing position with surprising grace. "Your imagination is your only limiter here."

Ahsoka watched him stand and then turned her attention back to focus on the rocks with a look of determination on her face.

Harry turned toward Aayla and Shaak Ti. Shaak Ti was staring down at the rocks, though her facial expression was completely blank. Her eyes were seeing without sight

She was obviously reaching out with every sense at her disposal. Sight. Hearing. Echolocation. And above all the Force.

She was focused intently and didn't miss a single thing as Ahsoka narrowed her eyes in concentration. A wave of her wand and she turned another rock into a miniature Nerf. The nerf only had three legs and balanced awkwardly but otherwise seemed to be fairly accurate.

Her eyes couldn't help but widening at the third confirmation of what she had seen, that her senses weren't fooling her. Shaak Ti had a rare moment of complete shock showing on her face. "That's... not possible."

"Oh?" inquired Harry as he walked over. "What exactly isn't possible?"

"Matter cannot just change it's state like this," Shaak Ti replied as she continued to stare at Ahsoka. "Only a particle destructor can unmake matter, and nothing I know of can reconstitute it into another form."

She turned her gaze from Ahsoka to Harry and fixed him with a glare that would melt transparisteel. "What kind of mind trick is this? I am not amused."

"You know, the only thing better than looking at an angry woman is the angry make-up sex that follows." In contrast to the togruta's tone Harry's _was_ amused and it was obvious that he was completely unconcerned with the gaze of a Jedi Master that had intimidated entire groups before.

He was getting very used to the reaction of surprise by now. And honestly, he hadn't had this much fun in quite some time. Both Ahsoka and Aayla had said something similar, in the same tone even.

Of course Aayla was once more bearing a similar look on her face. Only this time she was staring at Harry in shock because of the bluntness and outrageousness of his statements and not something 'impossible' he had done. Ahsoka had simply glanced up at the Togrutan Jedi Master with a cold look before returning her focus to the stones in front of her.

His smile turned curious and he adopted a tone he would use when speaking with a very young child, "If you are such an expert in all workings of Magic, or the 'the Force'," Harry said, using his fingers to show air quotes. "Why don't you outline for such a primitive as me _exactly_ what is impossible and possible?"

Harry waited for several moments with an overly interested and wide eyed expression and was met with silence before he shook his head sadly, not giving her a chance to talk, "If you define what is impossible you are putting limits on something you _clearly_ don't even begin to understand."

He turned back to Ahsoka and as a parting shot over his shoulder, though this one seemed to encompass both women. "Kind of shines light on the arrogance of calling yourselves 'Masters' when someone who is still a novice is able to do things you believe 'impossible' with a week or two of decent instruction."

He shook his head slightly and moved to go back to Ahsoka who was focused on a rock and seemed to be attempting to mold it into the form of a ship of some sort. However, Harry was stopped by Shaak Ti's voice. "I apologize, Mr. Potter."

Harry turned this time his expression showed surprised and he raised an inquiring eyebrow inviting her to continue.

"I was surprised, and forgot my own lessons. I did not mean to offend," Shaak Ti explained with genuine remorse in her voice. She may not trust Harry fully, and still have some rather large suspicions, but she also realized that she had offended him and was in the wrong.

Harry waved a hand with a small smile, "No offense taken. It's not your fault that you've been indoctrinated to view the universe in such a limited perspective. It can happen to anyone really. Happened to me when I was a kid too. All you need to avoid such things in the future is to simply keep an open mind and don't accept something as gospel because someone told you."

Harry turned again and observed Ahsoka. After some initial struggles she seemed to be working her way through the small pile of rocks, as it was quickly dwindling. He didn't see the reaction his words caused on the Jedi Master's face as she looked at Aayla who shook her head slightly, telling her friend confronting the issue at the moment wasn't in their best interest.

Harry glanced back once more toward the two Jedi. "Night time is coming. I won't send you back out into the jungles. When night falls the danger in the jungle magnifies, especially with hunters who track body heat. You can be my guest overnight if you'd like."

Aayla frowned and looked around. Nothing seemed to have changed. The blue flames continued to light the area, they hadn't changed, at least not in any noticeable manner. "Harry, how did you know it's almost night down here? There is no sunlight."

She was half expecting another answer of 'magic' and was somewhat disappointed by his more prosaic answer.

"You can tell by the temperature beginning to drop," Harry replied as he headed back over to where Ahsoka was looking in the bowl of creatures that were moving over different miniature objects. He left the two women to their own devices.

Aayla shook her head slightly at her friend, "As I mentioned... he's not... the biggest fan of the Jedi Order."

"I… could hear the disgust in his voice, but couldn't even sense the emotion behind the words." Shaak Ti observed, a frown on her face. "Not anger. Not even annoyance."

Aayla nodded a little bit, "I haven't figured out how he's doing that either."

Harry was back focused on Ahsoka who had filled the small bowl with small animals, models of star ships, though the last few rocks had been turned into what looked like colored glass, and Ahsoka was sitting cross legged holding the last rock in her hand looking at it speculatively. "Harry, is it possible to trans… transfigure something permanently?"

"You just got started and you're already exploring advanced transfiguration theory? Talk about over-achieving. Took me years, I think over a decade in fact, to get to that point." Harry chuckled a little bit and sat back down next to her in a cross-legged position, "The honest answer is that I don't know."

When Ahsoka looked at him surprised that he didn't have an answer, he shrugged apologetically but didn't seem sorry.

"The idea of permanent transfiguration is a little tricky. I told you. Intent, will or focus if you prefer, and power. The more power and will you cast with the longer your intended transfiguration lasts." Harry explained comfortably, "Now after a certain point you get to things that are _practically_ permanent."

"I'm not sure what that clarification means." Ahsoka confessed.

"I'd be surprised if you did. Like I said, advanced theory," Harry explained as he chuckled and leaned back on his hands looking thoughtful and comfortable explaining the concept, "Well, if you put enough power into your casts, your transfiguration may last years or decades or possibly longer. Those are things I consider _practically_ permanent. And yes I've experimented with it."

His pose and countenance turned thoughtful, "There are also runes you can inscribe into things that essentially freeze them. Which can make things permanent at least to the best of my knowledge. But, unless you're trying to make sure enchantments last long after your death, after a certain point it hardly matters."

"Now, the important question. Since I doubt you're interested in mastery level theory at least not for the purposes of this discussion, why do you ask?" Harry asked, a curious expression on his face.

Ahsoka shook her head slightly, she was surprised at how knowledgeable Harry sounded sometimes. Especially given that half the time it seemed like he took nothing seriously, even when she might otherwise consider a situation serious. Harry seemed to have his own measuring stick when it came to serious, and it was one that didn't seem to match anyone else's.

Still, the ease at which he explained concepts and theories made him seem like a professor, but the manner in which he did it made him imminently more accessible. Ahsoka shook her head before she replied, "I would be interested… but I was hoping I'd be able to make one of these rocks into a crystal."

"Hmm. That, again, is a subject in higher level transfiguration," He replied with a slight grimace, wondering if getting the books would help in this case. He hadn't been sure if he would need them given the amount of control Ahsoka already exhibited when working with Magic due to her Jedi training. "The short answer is yes, you can turn things into crystal or other gems, though most times their properties can be skewed and warped a bit. It also requires an incredible degree of focus."

Harry looked thoughtful as he considered it before tilting his head at Ahsoka. "Is this about the lightsword thingy again?"

"I was hoping to see about making myself a new lightsaber," Ahsoka agreed as she sighed a little bit disconsolately.

"Ohh.. right." Harry replied, remembering their conversation from earlier as he looked at Ahsoka thoughtfully.

She couldn't help shoot a glare over toward where Shaak Ti and Aayla stood a scant few meters away, "When they captured me before putting me on trial the Order took mine. And like a _stoopa_ I didn't reclaim mine before leaving the Order," She spat the word out like an epitaph.

"Without my lightsaber, I feel, not quite helpless, but very vulnerable," Ahsoka stated as she looked over at Harry somewhat sheepishly. "And like you pointed out back on Coruscant, I am somewhat defenseless."

Harry looked at Ahsoka and scratched his chin thoughtfully. "And you said you just need a special crystal for it?"

"Generally a crystal that has some resonance with the Force." Ahsoka nodded in agreement, "Jedi mostly get their crystals from Illum. But I doubt we'll be just swinging by there anytime soon since it's rather out of the way. The rest of the stuff is fairly common. I wondered if I could transfigure a rock so I could make myself a new saber."

Harry could see the disappointment on her face before an idea occurred to him. Suddenly, he grinned as an idea occurred to him and said aloud, "Dobby?"

"Yes Master Harry?" Dobby asked appearing in a pop immediately, while ignoring the reactions of those around him. Shaak Ti still looked a bit startled, but only a bit, as she adjusted to Dobby's comings and goings. Still it was requiring a major mental shift for her, so she was adjusting slowly.

Harry grinned, "Go get those two trunks of old jewelry. We just labeled them this -"

Dobby popped back with the two boxes in his hands and promptly handed them to his Master. Harry looked at the two trunks the house elf deposited in his hands and squinted at the writing on them. He realized it was totally illegible and would be useless to him if he were ever searching. He was nearly certain that Dobby was doing that on purpose. "Dobby, which one of these belongs to which family?"

"Left is Black, right is Potter." Dobby replied shortly, but there was a trace of a smirk on his face, as if he knew what Harry was thinking

Harry looked between the two before he grinned. He turned to Ahsoka and set the trunk in his left hand down on the ground enlarging it as he did. "We're going to start with the Black family heirlooms." He ignored the start from behind him.

Ahsoka frowned, "What? I don't want you to destroy something of your family's…"

Harry scoffed. "Please, it's not like I'll ever wear any of it. This is from Tonks' original family before they kicked her mother out for dirtying herself when she married a filthy first generation wizard, rather than the one they had selected for her."

"That man, of course, was a proper wizard, the son of wizards who had sex with their cousins and sisters, just like all proper purebloods." Harry stated as he shook his head in disgust.

"But… they're mementos from that family?" Ahsoka ventured carefully. She was slightly uncomfortable arguing for the value of mementos, but she was well aware Harry had attachments, and didn't want to pretend otherwise.

"Yes… yes they are," Harry replied as he tilted his head and got a far off look in his eyes with a bitter smile on his face.

Ahsoka sighed after twenty seconds when she realized Harry had zoned out again. She snapped her fingers in front of his face.

Aayla exchanged a significant look with Shaak Ti who raised both of her brows.

Harry shook his head slightly before looking at Ahsoka with a slightly abashed expression, "Sorry, I just realized that almost everyone in the Black family would likely be spinning in their graves right now for even considering this."

"Harry, I'm not asking you to do this…" Ahsoka immediately protested.

Harry blinked and then grinned. "Are you kidding? I hope they're watching right now and screaming epitaphs at me from whatever corner of Hell they're in. It would certainly serve the whole pack of arrogant inbred idiots right to know that a so-called 'half-breed' in their mind was now going to start tearing apart their priceless goblin-made family jewels."

Without further argument he set the trunk on the ground and enlarged it, prompting a small intake of air from Shaak Ti. He ignored that as he opened the trunk and then groaned accompanied by a gasp from Ahsoka.

He'd only seen it that morning but he'd already forgotten how full it was.

He wondered how it might be best to sort through the jewelry. He had no idea how expanded the trunk was, it looked overflowing, and the downsides of expanded trunks was that the opening was going to make shifting the jewelry around hard. He was certain it was just jewelry, assorted gems and probably a few ornamental weapons.

He was about to try and start shifting things around when he stopped. "You know what? To hell with it." He said to no one in particular. With a wave of his hand the trunk began to tilt forward only to be stopped as Dobby suddenly appeared before it with his hand held out.

"Master Harry Potter going to get Black family jewels all muddy and then Master Harry too lazy to clean them off properly. So Dobby will need to clean them up. And Dobby is busy preparing dinner," Dobby stated as he pointed emphatically at the ground which was definitely dirty and still showed signs of their wand testing earlier in the day.

Harry grimaced a bit and shook his head, his tone turned apologetic, "Of course, I tend to make enough messes for Dobby as it is. Let's go inside."

He didn't wait for a response as he walked into the house under the smug gaze of a house elf with the trunk floating in the air behind him. Ahsoka hadn't hesitated at all following on his heels into the house. The two Jedi Masters, who continued to be observers, looked at each other and then followed along.

He walked into the house and directly to the same area he had been in earlier in the day when they had woken up. They were right next to a pair of chairs and a table, by an organized and an unorganized pile of trunks as well as other boxes and crates in the area.

The trunk abruptly tilted forward unceremoniously. With the ringing of gold and other precious metals in the jewelry clinking together a torrent of jewelry fell out of the trunk. However it did not even seem to slow when the spectators expected, instead more and more jewelry tumbled out of the trunk, creating a huge pile as Harry completely upended the trunk dumping out its entire contents.

There were all sorts of gemmed items. Ahsoka noted that there was a large number of jewelry pieces. However there were all sorts of other items, models, weapons such as bejeweled swords, knives, as well as gloves, and what looked to be pieces of armor as well. Things continued to tumble out of the trunk as Harry floated it upward in the air, making room on the ground for whatever was in it.

All three women stared at the gigantic pile filling the area that was nearly chest high and several meters wide of jeweled pieces. Clearly the contents filled several times the size of what the trunk appeared capable of holding, as the pile was quite high and resembled a mountain. "Okay, first… what kind of crystal are you looking for here?"

When he got no immediate response he glanced back to Ahsoka who was eying the pile with a mixture of trepidation and awe.

Harry was completely ambivalent to their reactions and was about to reach down and grab a particular large and gaudy diamond necklace, when he stopped himself, "Damn," he said aloud before backing up.

He turned to Ahsoka, "Don't actually touch anything with your hands yet. If you see something you really like now, use your Force grabby abilities and pick the item up. Some stuff in here is cursed," Harry grimaced as he explained.

When she didn't make a move to grab anything immediately Harry stepped back and stretched out his hand toward the pile of jewelry, and closed his eyes. Ignoring the indrawn breaths from the women behind him. He surrounded himself in magic and then reached his magic into the large pile of expensive jewelry pieces. Pieces of jewelry began flying off the pile in two different directions making two smaller piles.

Shaak Ti drew in her breath sharply. She could feel the Force wash over the area, including herself. Harry was practically radiating power, and it was coming off him in waves. It was the most bizarre and potent sensation she had ever experienced, like it was sensing her existence in the Force, making some sort of determination and then moving on. One glance at Aayla told her that the other Jedi Master was feeling the same thing.

Yet even sensing the Force he was putting off, made it seem like it was coming from a void as she couldn't sense anyone at the center of the Force. It seemed to radiate from the blank space that Harry should have been.

However Ahsoka didn't realize anything of the sort, she felt the Force wash over her but wasn't aware of anything deeper, her focus was elsewhere. She hadn't even really looked closely at the pile except to marvel at its size, instead she was focused on Harry's face as watched as his eyes softly glowed an emerald green. She could tell that the two Jedi master's couldn't see it from their vantage point, but she only had one word to describe it. "Beautiful."

Once the original pile had been completely separated into two piles, a larger and a smaller pile, Harry moved to the smaller pile, keeping his hand stretched out, the pile once more began to shift, albeit much more slowly as piece by piece separated themselves into two further small piles.

"What are you doing?" Ahsoka ventured, her tone very tentative, unsure if it required Harry's absolute concentration, or if he was able to speak.

"I'm separating out them out into three piles. The big pile are all unenchanted, or enchanted with positive effects. They're not registering to me as cursed or with any spell to hide curses from my senses. This other pile is all cursed items. I'm further splitting that up into two piles, one with curses that can be simply dispelled but need a second look before doing so, and one with the curses engraved into the pieces themselves via runes or blood sacrifice." Harry explained, his voice slow as his focus didn't waver from the jewelry pieces in front of him.

"Blood sacrifice?" Ahsoka echoed, sounding vaguely ill. She didn't know the specifics, but the words were fairly self explanatory. Shaak Ti and Aayla had both moved a little bit closer to the objects were equally as horrified on their expressions, and exchanged worried looks.

With a jerk of his chin Harry indicated the pile of items he was still sorting. One of the pieces floated up out of the pile to hover in front of them. The piece was an amulet of several dark gems around a center gem colored an unattractive milky red, all set in a large and elaborate silver setting.

Harry's voice was soft, though the piece seemed to shimmer slightly in the air giving off a slightly orange glow as it hung there. "This one… has a spell around it to hide it from standard dark spell detection spells. Probably so it could be either worn around or gifted to other witches or wizards without them realizing it."

Harry's voice was musing as he was examining the magic of the item closely in order to figure out the exact enchantment as they spoke.

"Can you reach out and sense it Ahsoka?" Harry asked curiously, he had yet to determine the enchantment though he could tell it wasn't a pleasant one. He was wondering what Ahsoka was capable of sensing.

"Huh?" asked Ahsoka eloquently as she started out of her examination of Harry's eyes and peered at the piece. She tried to reach out with her senses as she had been taught. But she had trouble sensing anything over the feel of Harry's magic surrounding the piece.

Realizing this, Harry reduced the use of his magic on the piece and used it only to hold the piece in the air by the necklace chain. He left the piece hanging in the air and diverted his attention to the pile and returned to sorting the pieces into two smaller piles.

Ahsoka was able to feel shook her head, she wasn't able to tell it had any feeling one way or the other. "I don't sense anything."

"I sense that it has been touched by the Force, but I can sense nothing else," Shaak Ti spoke up softly her eyes closed in concentration as she focused on the piece as well.

Harry shook his head before he said, "Let me break the concealments on it, then all of you try again."

He let his magic engulf it once more. The jewelry piece seemed to shimmer again as Harry exerted a bit of effort and with his magic broke through the concealing enchantment.

Each of the observers felt the extremely subtle twisting of the Force as it struck the necklace, and the burst of energies that both faded from the object, the spells on the necklace and were now suddenly no longer masked and hidden.

"What about now?" Harry asked curiously.

Shaak Ti reacted first, having been trying to read it with her senses when Harry broke the enchantment and actually made a gagging sound. "I don't know what it is, but whatever it is... is revolting…"

Aayla reacted a second later, shivering and crossing her arms over her chest to ward off chills. "It's so dark and vile, it should be destroyed."

Harry had to admit some grudging respect for their responses, it had taken him decades to get his magic to the point that he could intuitively understand it like that. He felt each of their magic slide over the piece slowly, passively sensing it. His attention focused on Ahsoka whose eyes were fixed on the piece of jewelry with intense concentration on her face.

"They're right… it's dark. But…" She trailed off uncertainly.

"What is it?" Harry asked, intrigued, a suspicion forming in his mind. His suspicion was confirmed as he felt Ahsoka's magic not just passively read what it was telling her, like the other two Jedi had done… instead he felt her at trying, albeit very clumsily, to push magic into the piece in order to figure out what it was.

"I… am not sure..." Ahsoka frowned and shook her head a little bit. For a moment there she thought she might have sensed something more at the very edges of her senses but it seemed to slip away as she tried to focus on it. And the overall dark feeling of the item didn't help her desire to sense it.

Harry nodded slowly and pushed his own magic into the piece. His facial expression hardened slowly as he slowly unraveled and determined the enchantments on the necklace. "Whoever enchanted this was pure evil. If you put it on it has compulsions not to take it off, but it starts to leech energy from the soul, you the more you use magic, the more of your life it actually takes, likely aging you or making you ill. I'm not certain."

He looked at Ahsoka seriously, "You were making a good attempt at using magic to sense and evaluate it."

She averted her eyes from the piece and nodded slightly looking down. She was disappointed that she wasn't able to sense anything more.

Harry stepped forward and gestured to get her attention so she would look up at him, "Hey, I'm proud of you. You're starting to use magic, rather than just letting it guide you. You're listening. I told you it wouldn't be easy, and I'd much rather you learn the hard things with me here than on your own."

When her expression remained uncertain, he gestured. "It took me a very very long time to do what you just did. Literally… years. And that was after I left school."

She searched his expression to see if he was being honest and saw nothing but honestly there and she nodded a little bit, a small smile on her face.

He shook his head and returned his focus to the piece, letting his magic drop it into the smallest pile. "Dobby, take those two piles and put them in two boxes for now. We may use the slightly bigger one as a teaching tool later to teach Ahsoka how to sense that sort of thing and how to dispel curses... But the smaller one contains objects with curses that aren't dispellable. At least not without a lot more work than I feel like putting into it. Seal the box and I'll either fiendfyre it while out in orbit or we'll drop it in a star or black hole somewhere."

Dobby simply nodded and the jewelry disappeared with a pop followed by Dobby a moment later.

Harry turned to Ahsoka, "Sorry, I wasn't trying to pass anything off. As I said, I never cared for the jewelry, Daph was the only one who ever wore any of it, but even that was really just a handful of pieces she really liked. Those are in another trunk somewhere. So, believe me, I'm not attached to any of this crap."

Harry nodded at the sight, and gestured toward the still huge pile that was still remaining on the wooden floor of the house. "Everything that's left in that pile, go ahead and rummage through to your heart's content. Whatever you want in there, go ahead and break it apart and take the crystals.

Ahsoka looked at Harry in disbelief, she might not have been a mineralogist of any sort but she at least recognized metals that would make some of the pieces worth a fortune on the black market and on several worlds. "Harry, I can't just… go destroying that jewelry some of it is likely very expensive."

"Seriously, I'm really not attached to everything. If it makes you feel better I'll destroy all the pieces and just leave the jewels. Then… instead of a handful destroyed to be used, they'll all be," Harry said, making no attempt to hide his cheeky grin, cutting off the argument before it could gain traction.

Ahsoka stared at his grin for a few moments before sighing a bit. "If you're going to be stubborn about it," She turned to the pile, and squaring her shoulders slightly she stepped forward to begin looking through it.

"Harry, why do you have pieces that are so dark in nature?" Aayla asked finally breaking the silence. She was forcing herself to keep her tone light, she didn't want to be accused of assumption again but she and Shaak Ti were both tense at the mention of what the nature of the jewelry could do.

"Like I said, one of my families was rather renowned for their dark leanings, and some of them delved into very dark magic without concern for morality. I've just never sorted through all their crap. I'd be surprised if a necklace like that was the darkest thing contained in one of these trunks." Harry replied with an indifferent shrug.

Aayla was going to press slightly further, mostly about the recklessness of such artifacts and their ability to corrupt, but Dobby popped back in with arms crossed looking pleased that Harry had done as instructed. "Master Harry needs to eat. Dobby be making large dinner and it be nearly ready."

Harry glanced down with a raised eyebrow. "I think we'll have three guests tonight Dobby, give me a minute and I'll grab the drinks."

Dobby gave a long suffering sigh as if he didn't need to be told how many to cook for before with a shake of his head he popped away once more.

Harry looked to Ahsoka, who seemed to have her search under control, or at least seemed to be progressing well. He left the area to go to the kitchen to grab the drinks and check on Dobby, since the elf likely made enough for ten people.

Ahsoka was timidly and hesitantly sorting through the piles of jewelry. She was still a bit concerned about Harry's casual dismissal of such pieces. She could tell that some of them were finely wrought and might have ceremonial value. But… she also didn't doubt Harry's claim that he would just destroy every piece. So she was searching carefully, looking for several gems of the right size before testing the compatibility with the gem itself by the Force.

She completely ignored the presence of the two Masters, who without Harry had only her to focus on. She was also using the time to continue to sort the remaining memories she had that hadn't been sorted, recent events, including today's experience.

In the absence of Harry's presence, Shaak Ti approached, watching as the former Jedi padawan searched through and tossed aside pieces of jewelry so elaborate and ornate that some could possibly be sold to buy a brand new starship. Some of the pieces were incredibly detailed and others were gaudy and elaborate. She finally spoke up to the Padawan, "You may not be a member of the Order anymore, but I could request that your lightsaber be returned to you if you desired."

Ahsoka ignored the Jedi Master, not even acknowledging the words. She didn't even look up at the her.

Shaak Ti raised an eyebrow and turned her head to look over at Aayla, who had a puzzled frown on her face. Once or twice was circumstance but this continued silent treatment and reluctance to acknowledge her at all was something that caught the Jedi Master off guard.

Aayla was every bit as confused. When they had first met, Ahsoka had been defensive and suspicious and had been very formal, but she hadn't responded with indifference to Aayla's presence, much less outright ignored her, so why would Shaak Ti be any different?

Ahsoka continued to slowly search through the pile, her eyes half closed as she moved through the various pieces, doing her best to ignore those around her and doing so by working as much in her own head as she was with the gems.

"Do you require assistance with your search?" Shaak Ti inquired.

Ahsoka continued to ignore her presence entirely. Her hands fell on a thick bracelet with several embedded gems, some were on the bracelet itself, some dangled from charms. One of the larger ones she specifically held between her fingers. It was a relatively large bright orange gem. It was a much stronger and brighter shade of orange than most crystals found on Illum of a similar color.

She rubbed the gem slowly between her fingers. She could sense the Force… or magic she reminded herself, within the gem. Ahsoka wondered if any of the gems had magic in them that would prevent her from making a connection. She decided that she would need to set the bracelet aside and come back to later when Harry was around to answer questions and returned her gaze to the pile.

She looked at the rest of the pile sitting on the floor. there was a lot to go through still, and inspecting just one of the larger gems had taken an considering amount of time. She stood up with the bracelet still in her hands, intending to set it aside as one possibility and didn't want to get it accidentally shifted around.

She turned to put it safely out of the way, then seemed surprised to find herself nearly walking into Shaak Ti. She shook her head slightly, saying nothing and avoiding the gaze of the older woman and then stepped around her and headed toward the table in the room.

"Ahsoka?" Shaak Ti inquired, clearly curious to find out if something was wrong.

Ahsoka stiffened a bit and sighed, her face impassive. "Is there something I can assist you with, Master Shaak Ti?" in a monotone voice, complete devoid of any tone of familiarity or feeling. The same way she had been speaking since the older woman arrived, she didn't turn around to face the woman, her shoulders stiff as she looked away.

"Ahsoka, are you okay?" Aayla finally asked, concern in her voice now as she stepped closer to the person who was acting very differently than the young woman she had been close to these past few days since leaving Nar Shaddaa. As she walked closer, she cast a worried glance at the jewelry she had just been sorting through.

The mentioning of how dark some of the pieces had been, had Aayla wondering if Harry had missed a piece of bad jewelry and it was having an impact of some sort on the young Padawan.

Ahsoka tilted her head to look at Aayla. "I'm fine. I just have little interest in speaking with Master Shaak Ti."

"Why?" Aayla blurted in surprise with a frown on her face as she glanced toward Shaak Ti, who merely tilted her head curiously in response.

"Because the last time I saw her was in the Chamber of Judgment while she silently gazed down on me as I was expelled," Ahsoka's voice was clipped and full of accusation.

"I did not agree with decision of the council. I was outvoted." Shaak Ti replied calmly, her dark eyes not leaving Ahsoka.

Ahsoka snorted and rolled her eyes. "I could tell. You were quite outspoken in my defense."

She spun around to face the Togruta Jedi Master, with narrowed eyes, her voice filled with sarcasm, "Oh, wait, I wasn't there for any of the so called '_defense'_ since my Jedi trial was nothing but a _formality_. Just as Skyguy said! You all gave me no chance before expelling me, and then sending me back to my cell to await being turned over to the military so I could be put on a public relations farce of a trial for the military and public." Her words were heated and filled with resentment.

Shaak Ti's countenance closed and turned impassive as she met Ahsoka's gaze unflinchingly. "Beware anger. It leads to the Dark Side."

Ahsoka stiffened, her shoulders visibly rising as she took a breath and then another, her jaw clenching as she looked up at the older Togrutan, who was once a role model to Ahsoka, but whom now she could barely tolerate the sight of. A low rattling started to fill the room.

Neither Ahsoka nor Shaak Ti broke their gazes from one another, but Aayla was looking around the room, remembering the scene from the hold of the ship and the rattling of items on the shelves. Only this time it was accompanied by a stronger sense of building Force pressure.

"With all due…." Ahsoka trailed off, as a thought occurred to her. Rather a memory of something Harry had said to her the day they met, as they were leaving the bar. Then she refocused upon the Jedi Master before her.

"No… you know what? Fuck respect. Fuck the Jedi Council. And fuck you, _Master!_" Ahsoka spat as she finally seemed to snap. "Take your useless platitudes, along with my lightsaber that the Council confiscated and shove them both up your ass."

Aayla smacked a hand to her own face in exasperation at Ahsoka's reaction. "You've spent way too much time around Harry if you're talking like that, especially to a Jedi Master."

"I don't see a vaunted Jedi Master in front of me," Ahsoka growled not even bothering to face Aalya, nor allowing her humor to defuse things, still affixing Shaak Ti with a glare, her voice still trembling with emotion, "All I see is a _coward _with a guilty conscience deflecting blame from themselves for nearly getting me _killed_."

Both women could feel the buildup of Force in the area. The rattling sound in the area grew and it became very obvious exactly what it was as the pile of jewelry began to shift as pieces flew into the air, but it wasn't just the jewelry. The miniature trunks and crates were also shifting and beginning to move in response to Ahsoka's emotions.

Aayla opened her mouth to say something to try and calm the situation first, but Ahsoka cut her off.

The former padawan seemed completely unaware of it as she finally turned to include Aayla in her accusing gaze, "You weren't there!" Her voice was filled with pain and desolation.

Aayla attempted to move forward to give the girl physical comfort only to be stopped by a warning in the Force as a chair flew through the area she would have stepped into. It wouldn't have done serious damage but it definitely would have smarted.

"You weren't the one that was humiliated!" Ahsoka cried as tears welled up in her blue eyes and began to run down her face. "You weren't basically told all of your accomplishments in the war weren't worth sithspit as your battlefield privileges were revoked!"

As she spoke nearly everything in the room save for the table that Harry had stuck to the ground with a sticking charm earlier, lifted and began to whirl around chaotically, forcing both Shaak Ti and Aayla to step back or avoid flying objects several times.

"You weren't expelled from the Order!" Ahsoka half snarled as she seemed completely unaware of what was happening as she continued her diatribe. "You didn't have your padawan braid, a braid that meant everything to you, ripped off of you like you were the scum of the galaxy!"

She pointed a finger accusingly at Shaak Ti, as her voice shook in rage, "All while she was one of the ones who sat up in the judgment chairs and didn't say a _fucking_ word in my defense."

Shaak Ti had to spin backwards as Ahsoka pointed at her, as first a goblet, then some sort of jeweled dagger flew through the space she had been only a moment earlier.

"And I certainly never received a sincere and true apology from those nerfuckers after putting me through that." Ahsoka spat angrily, her voice continuing to rise in volume, "No, Ahsoka Tano, troublemaker Padawan was told 'oops! Our bad!' and that it was a good learning experience... that it was a trial they were proud I could overcome!"

Her statement was punctuated by the smaller of the two chairs in the area smashing down on the place Shaak Ti was standing, forcing her to dodge. She attempted to move forward to get to Ahsoka, with the intent of grabbing her and stopping this outpouring of power but she found forward momentum hard as wind seemed to radiate from Ahsoka in waves. Wind that was then accompanied small shrunken trunk projectiles and pieces of jewelry and furniture that were whirling through the area at ever faster speeds.

Both Aayla and Shaak Ti were forced to take cover behind the table which seemed to be the only unmoving part of the room as the whirlwind and the area of devastation seemed to grow wider.

"Ahsoka!" Aayla cried out trying to snap the girl out of it, though she was forced to duck back behind the table when a large bejeweled axe slammed edge first into said table, embedding with more than enough force to lodge itself in the wood of the table, and less than an inch from her face.

Ahsoka completely ignored both their plight and the calling out of her name as she continued her rant, her eyes glowing a radiant blue as energy seemed to pour from them, "It wasn't just her. Did any of the Council visibly support me in the trial? Just my Master. Oh wait… he's not _on_ the Council, and he's not a Master. He's too attached, too arrogant and reckless!"

Her voice had risen to a crescendo as she screamed, "So why should I even listen to you? I certainly wasn't given the chance to argue in my own defense. And from where I'm standing, your way just ends up with everyone betrayed, dead, and unmourned!"

Aayla was struck at Ahsoka echoing the senses from her vision but now was not the moment to sit and meditate on it, not with this whirlwind maelstrom of Force energy and the rant Ahsoka was currently on. More important was getting to her and stopping her. Aayla wished she had a blaster she could set to stun. She didn't even think that Jedi techniques that could calm or even put someone to sleep would work.

"When I needed you most, you all betrayed me! Everything I've been since I was a child was in the Jedi Order. They took that from me. You all abandoned me and left me all alone… with nothing!" Her scream was practically an inhuman screech of agony. "I have nothing! I am nothing!"

Aayla and Shaak Ti looked at each other attempting to come up with a way to get to the padawan when they both noticed something out of the corner of their eyes, causing them to turn as one.

Harry was walking forward into the chaos.

Aayla's voice caught in her throat. Harry's face showed the same determination she had seen there when they first encountered the slavers. Only now his eyes were glowing with emerald energy, and his entire being seemed to ripple with Force power.

Harry strode into the whirling maelstrom created by Ahsoka, barely sparing a look toward where the Jedi Masters were crouched for protection. They watched as he stepped right into the path of the whirling items, now whipping by at deadly speeds. Only just before anything hit him it seemed to divert itself and go around him, while Harry's stride didn't even break.

Ahsoka had fallen silent and watching as Harry approached her through the whirlwind though her body still heaved with the feeling of unchecked and unrestrained emotions.

He stopped in front of her, he made no attempt to touch her or knock her out. Items continued to fly through the air, and be diverted around him. He simply stood there looking down into her eyes while she looked up into his. Neither said anything for several seconds before he spoke.

His voice was firm, lacking the frantic tones Aayla had when trying to get Ahsoka's attention, much less the emotion in Ahsoka's voice. That did not make it any less filled with power.

His tone was direct and reassuring, especially in contrast to Ahsoka's shouting from moments earlier, but could be heard even over the whirlwind around them. "You are _not_ nothing. You never were. They didn't take everything from you. You may not be a Jedi anymore but you are still who you are."

"You are Ahsoka Tano, and what you are now is _my_ apprentice," He stated, his tone one of firm declaration.

Harry's eyes widened slightly as the moment he finished the statement, he felt magic, powerful and primal, wash over himself and Ahsoka in a way he had never experienced before. There was now a new presence in his mind, one that bypassed every shield he possessed. He could tell, whatever it was that just occurred, had forged some sort of connection.

It was completely unprecedented amongst all his past experiences. He wondered what had happened but sure it was something to do with his normal luck, but he didn't have time to examine it at the moment.

Ahsoka's breath hitched at his words. She was too lost in her emotions to tell the difference between that magic and Harry's at the moment. She looked up at him for the briefest of moments and between one instant and the next she had thrown herself forward, her face pressing into his chest as her arms wrapped around his body. It was like a dam bursting as she immediately broke out into heart wrenching sobs. Sobs that somehow got even stronger when Harry wrapped his arms around her.

Ahsoka and Shaak Ti both stared from behind their cover. The instant the words passed Harry's lips they both felt a _wave _in the Force. Once more it was a sensation neither of them had ever experienced. It was like the Force was ever so briefly trumpeting in exultation.

Harry was unaware of this, and didn't have time to examine whatever the hell he had probably just put his foot into with the wave of magic washing over him. His focus was on the sobbing girl in his arms. His voice was soft and reassuring when he spoke. "And I give you my word that I am not going to abandon you."

He knew it was impulsive. But he also knew it was what Ahsoka needed in that moment. It had been a long time but he remembered exactly what it was like to feel the way she was. The horror that was his fifteenth and sixteenth years, the loss and abandonment he felt from nearly every corner.

Only he had friends who weren't going to let him sink down on his own. He shuddered to think what might have happened to him, what paths he might have taken if he had been alone then. He wasn't going to let Ahsoka Tano, someone who reminded him so much of himself in some ways, and so different in others, feel she was facing it alone.

As for Ahsoka, the past two emotionally draining weeks had finally caught up with her. The treason of someone she considered a friend, then the continued feeling of betrayal after betrayal. Everywhere she turned seemed to make it worse, and spending time sorting her memories and reliving the experiences all built upon one another.

Shaak Ti's comment was just the final nudge and now it was all coming out in a torrent of backed up emotions.

And to top it all off, Harry wasn't scolding her for her emotions. He was just holding her, supporting her weight with ease and running a hand up and down her back gently.

The storm of emotions slowly calmed in her and the whirling around them slowed and there was the sound of clattering and thumping as things fell from the air wherever they were floating. The two Jedi Master's had poked their heads out from behind the table to see Ahsoka enveloped in Harry's arms.

When her sobs had subsided and were down to little hiccups of breath, Harry murmured quietly into her montral, his tone gentle and reassuring. "You did good."

That had surprised Ahsoka. She wasn't sure what she expected, though she wasn't entirely shocked when she wasn't scolded or judged. She was stunned at the approval and from her vantage point looking up at Harry, she couldn't see Shaak Ti's eyes narrow at his reaction and encouragement.

Harry, while catching it out of the corner of his eye, ignored it. His voice was gentle as he explained quietly. "I've told you before, you shouldn't hold anger and hurt like that in. It will poison you. Now you can let it go, rather than just ignore it like those morons would tell you to do. Ignoring it and pretending it doesn't exist doesn't help you either. Now you can organize the memory just like you're doing the others."

She leaned her torso back slightly and looked up at him, searching his face for any sign that he was misleading her.

Harry shook his head to her unasked question and spoke very quietly, "Your occlumency is coming along very quickly. Once you sort through these last emotional memories it's a very small step to being able to defend and shield your mind. Not to mention hide yourself."

She studied his face a moment more before she nodded a little bit and then pressed close again, just hugging him tightly, occasional sniffles being heard as she allowed the rest of her emotions to flow out.

That action seemed to surprise Harry momentarily but he returned to stroking her back comfortingly. His voice lightened slightly and his tone turned teasing. "Also... gotta say, cursing your former 'superiors' out. Telling them to do things that may not be anatomically possible," he sniffed and wiped a fake tear. "I do believe there's nothing more I can teach you about the possible stupidity of authority."

Ahsoka's body jerked slightly at a strangled laugh at Harry's comment but she didn't pull away, and he didn't attempt to push her away.

Aayla seemed like she wanted to say something. A sharp look from Harry cut her off before she could get started.

Ahsoka turned her head to look around the room, though she didn't pull away from Harry's comforting embrace. She had to blink at the destruction of the area. Trunks and jewelry were tossed everywhere, and she was pretty sure that she saw pieces of the chairs scattered all over the place. Her voice was soft and full of regret, "I'm sorry I made a mess…"

"Don't be. I told you sorting your memories would reopen some old wounds and might cause some accidental magic," Harry's voice was reassuring as he chuckled softly, his torso shaking slightly as he did. A sensation Ahsoka felt pressed up against him. It felt rather nice she decided. Comforting even.

"When I was working on occlumency initially, I experienced some things similar to what you've had over the past couple of weeks. I ended up destroying the office of my school headmaster. Dealing with recent trauma is always hard," Harry's voice was soothing, and he smiled slightly. "Of course I also had a crap occlumency teacher, so that didn't help."

Harry murmured quietly to Ahsoka, "Rest. Finish sorting your memories when you wake up. Then if you want we can test and reinforce your defenses a little bit."

Ahsoka shifted slightly as she nodded, burying her head back against his chest, nestling closer in Harry's soothing embrace.

After a few minutes, she had stilled and was breathing slowly. Harry shifted and lifted her unconscious form into his arms, picking her up bridal style and carrying her out of the area without saying a word.

The only acknowledgement he gave them, was an uncharacteristically serious look he gave Aayla as their eyes met before he quickly passed her.

Shaak Ti and Aayla both watched him go without saying a word. A silence filled the room, "Well, that was… interesting." Aayla said, more for a lack of anything else to say than a true observation.

Shaak Ti hadn't moved since Ahsoka had calmed and the objects lifted and spun by the Force had settled. "There was more than a bit of anger there. Her behavior is most concerning." Shaak Ti observed, her tone grave, making it clear her feelings on the situation.

Aayla furrowed her brow, "Is there a question in there somewhere, Master Ti? You seem to be making an accusation without actually saying it."

Before Shaak Ti could reply, Harry returned to the room, his expression curiously pleased given the seriousness of a few moments ago. "Sorry about that little outburst. I had expected it to happen eventually, just not quite so soon. Merlin save me from overachievers." His tone was apologetic and amused at the same time.

Shaak Ti frowned as Harry re-entered the room and her stance shifted slightly. Aayla's eyebrows raised recognizing the defensive stance the woman was now in. It was one that allowed the freedom of movement in nearly any direction and allowed those movements to bring the lightsaber on her hip into play with ease.

Aayla knew without a doubt that it meant Shaak Ti now regarded Harry as a threat.

"So much for not making a mess for Dobby to clean up." Harry muttered as he looked around.

"Allowing such an emotional expression is against every tenet which the Jedi stands for and is very dangerous for the galaxy as a whole and Ahsoka as an individual," Shaak Ti said in a guarded and serious tone.

Harry, who for his part had his back to them, and was looking around the area in which objects were scattered, "Yes because you guys did such a great job looking out for her as an individual," He said absently as he began looking around the room more actively.

That seemed to frustrate Shaak Ti ever so briefly. "Ahsoka Tano may no longer be a member of our Order, but it is my duty as a Jedi to prevent others from falling into such a path whether they ascribe to our beliefs or not. And to put a stop those who would lead others down that path," Her tone carried more than a hint of threat to it.

Aayla was looking back and forth between Shaak Ti and Harry and wondering if a fight between the two was going to break out. She wasn't sure what to say to diffuse things, but considering she was becoming more used to Harry's mannerisms she decided to just maintain her silence and observe.

"What path is that?" Harry asked, still with the absent air as he was only paying attention to the conversation as background noise while he sighed, not seeming to find what he was looking for.

"The path to the Dark Side," Shaak Ti said bluntly.

Harry rolled his eyes, a combination of disgust and resignation in his tone, realizing that an argument was clearly imminent. "Yeah, you really have no _fucking _clue what you're talking about."

"...Excuse me?" Shaak Ti said, this the first time he really seemed to say something that startled her. The innuendo and flirting hadn't phased her, but the accusation that she wasn't competent in some manner regarding instruction of the Force made her bristle with indignation. "I have seen firsthand what allowing such anger can lead to, it is a direct path to the Dark Side. The fact that you're not just allowing it, but encouraging it is most concerning to me."

Harry just shook his head. "Yeah I'm sure you have and I'm sure it is concerning to you. Especially after what I've heard about exactly how your Order handles 'instruction'," he said making quotes in the air with his fingers on the word instruction.

At her affronted expression he continued, "Seriously, it's like somewhere long lost in the annals of history, someone read to a Jedi the first two lessons on occlumency, and then didn't bother teaching you morons anything else, and you just made up everything else you do from there, getting most of it wrong in the process."

He shook his head slightly and seemed to dismiss the topic, considering it closed as he looked around the room, "She really did a number on my chair apparently. I wonder if it's just in pieces or she tossed it somewhere." He shook his head and leaned against the thick wood table and raised an eyebrow at Shaak Ti expectantly, a faintly amused look on his face.

"I'm not going to mince words. I do not like what I've seen here." Shaak Ti stated firmly she had only moved subtly to make sure to keep herself facing him

"I know," Harry said as he nodded agreeably while gesturing around. "Unfortunately I'm not much for decorating... at least my wives always said I had the interior design instincts of a color blind acromantula."

"And the last time we let Dobby decorate something, we weren't all that specific as to what. So he nearly caused an international incident by putting my face on the side of a mountain," He let his head fall back before he shook it in exasperation. "Wouldn't have been so bad if he hadn't destroyed the four other faces on that mountain in the process. The muggles got a bit upset about that. Took a lot of magic and a host of obliviators to deal with it."

Harry's tone was amused as he continued to speak, "Of course the mass of Utube videos were then deemed to be fakes and were considered to be the one of the greatest coordinated pranks in history."

"Harry," Aayla cut in, interrupting his rambling. "Focus. This is serious here. Master Ti's jumping to all the wrong conclusions here because you're not providing her the correct perspective on things, and you have me under oath so I can't defend you..."

There was irritation in her voice. Because now that she had gotten to know him at least some, she was pretty sure he was doing it deliberately by provoking the other Jedi Master.

Harry shrugged looking unconcerned, but addressed Aayla's statement directly, surprising both of them in the response, "Maybe that's because she's leaping to conclusions rather than actually asking me any questions."

"I am simply making observations," Shaak Ti replied evenly.

"True, and you can observe all you want, but until you actually propose a question to me, I'm going to continue thinking you're an idiot," He paused and smiled slightly. "Albeit an idiot with at least some sense of humor."

"Why should I ask, when I have nothing to verify the truth of what you tell me? I am however able to observe you and come up with some factual observations," Shaak Ti countered, her stance still guarded but her tone was even as she watched him.

Harry grinned and hopped backwards and up onto the table he was leaning against. Taking a moment to cross his legs and looked at Shaak Ti with a very amused expression on his face. "Oh this should be good. Okay then Jedi Master Shaak Ti. Why don't you amaze me with your observations?"

Aayla was about to jump in, wondering if this was the best idea given Harry's unique approach to things. She had already seen that amused expression on his face and knew there was a trap coming even if she couldn't figure out where from yet.

She was about to speak up and interject but Harry waved her off. "No no, I'm genuinely curious about what little Miss Observer has so 'expertly' concluded," His voice carrying more than a little note of challenge.

Shaak Ti tilted her head slightly in acknowledgement of the challenge "Observation one. You obviously use the Force. Yet I am unable to sense you, hiding yourself in a way only the Sith have been able to do."

"Observation two. You don't care to guard your emotions, and you are encouraging Ahsoka Tano to follow your lead," Shaak Ti gestured around at the chaos that was once an organized room for emphasis. She stated her point clearly wanting to outline them though she refrained from ticking them off on her fingers, not wanting to be caught off guard should she provoke Harry into something.

"Observation three. You have taken a padawan who had a lot of potential and was on her way to becoming a great part of our Order, and in a matter of days under your influence is now displaying extreme and uncontrolled anger. Several steps down the path of the use of the Dark Side," Her voice was hard and accusatory.

"Observation four. Several Masters, both those deeply attuned to the force and those less so, have sensed that you represent a vergence in the Force. Master Secura herself believes that you are going to play a role in deciding the fate of the Jedi," Her eyes narrowed and mistrust was clear on her face.

That mistrust in her expression did not ease up at all. In fact it just deepened as she saw Harry seemed completely unsurprised by her statement. A glance at Aayla had Aayla's face flushing and her eyes downcast in guilt. "A fact she has apparently shared with you," Shaak Ti added dryly.

"Observation five is that suspiciously the visions of the Council have been shadowed by the dark side of late. Yet _somehow _around you several have had glimpses of the future," she continued picking up the thread of her points.

"Observation six is that you dislike the Jedi Order, displayed by both your actions and your words. One may even go so far as to say that you hate them," Shaak Ti said, choosing her words deliberately and watching Harry for any sign of mood change. When he looked to be still watching to see if she had any more points, Shaak Ti continued.

"Given those observations what conclusion would you draw?" Shaak Ti demanded, her shoulders straightening slightly.

"Er… given those observations? I'd say that your Order inhibits critical thinking more than I initially thought." Harry replied scratching the side of his head as he considered the question, "Well either that or it's a personal failing and you're an idiot. Of course there is also the possibility of it not really being idiocy. The other possibility is some sort of mental handicap."

He paused to examine her cautiously, "Though you don't really _seem_ mentally handicapped. Still… disabilities can present in so many different ways."

"Harry…" Aayla said warningly, not missing the slight tightening of irritation on Shaak Ti's face. A sure sign that even Shaak Ti's patience had its limits.

"Oh all right…" Harry sighed and then looked thoughtful, and unlike Shaak Ti had no reservations about what to do with his hands as he began to tick off on his fingers "Er, let's see here. Observation one: you're wrong, though only technically. Observation two: you're wrong and you're right so I'll give you half credit for that one. Observation three: you're wrong. Observation four: I don't see how that's my problem, nor do I really give a shit, and observation five: ditto. You did actually manage to get observation six right though!"

Harry took a moment to count on his fingers. "So congratulations, out of six of your amazing observations that's one and a half right conclusions. Gotta say, I'm not feeling all that impressed here."

"I fail to see where I am wrong in any of my observations., after all, just because you say something is wrong does not make it so," Shaak Ti replied evenly, her tone even as she met Harry's gaze with her dark eyes.

"Just because you fail to see something wrong, does not make it right," Harry countered with a shake of his head "Anyway, we'll come back to the irony and hypocrisy of a Jedi making a statement like that at some later date."

Harry shook his head before his tone turned from purely condescending to condescending _and_ lecturing, "Let's take a look at what you assumed there. First, I don't use the Force, I use Magic."

"They are the same thing, Harry," Aayla interjected with a frown. She hadn't really wanted to get into the argument but she felt obliged to help Shaak Ti out, having experienced firsthand Harry's argument style before

"So you'd be okay with me walking around and telling people you used Magic?" Harry inquired. When her jaw closed, he nodded, "Yeah. I thought not. So why should I label what I do by the Order's limited views?"

Harry moved on to her next observation. "As for guarding my emotions? Um. Simple question. Are you able to sense them right now?"

Shaak Ti and Aayla both exchanged a look. Shaak Ti shook her head slightly and responded negatively. Aayla whose empathic abilities were stronger than most any in the Order had only been able to sense his emotions for those two brief periods when they were falling through the air and after he had stopped the explosion. Otherwise neither had been able to do so.

Harry grinned and winked slightly. "So... I'd say they're pretty well guarded. You would have at least been a little bit more correct if you said I display emotions."

Shaak Ti responded for both of them, "That just ties into my first point. You being able to hide yourself like only the Sith seem capable."

"Ah I see." Harry frowned as he tilted his head and considered that. "We'll consider that observation up for debate for the moment, though I'm sure we'll come back to it."

Harry's brow furrowed as he ran through her observations to pick up the thread of his thoughts. "I fail to see how what 'visions' you have through your hokey religion are any of my concern. One of my teachers told me divination was a dodgy subject at best. I've never had any luck with it myself. I don't care if you think I'm the cause of them or not."

Harry shook his head an expression of disgust on his face. "I long ago stopped putting faith in portents of the future or doing anything to go out of my way to follow them. And have felt that way since the first 17 years of my life were dominated by doing so. I also have a habit of questioning the intelligence and mental stability of people that try and follow them to the exclusion of all else."

"Even Aayla got put through the ringer when she tried pitching the standard 5 D's of prophecy and divination at me," Harry explained calmly. When he saw their blank looks he expanded, "You know... the five D's! 'Doom, death, destruction, darkness and dooooooom!'" He extended out the last word for several seconds of emphasis.

Harry sighed a bit and the amusement from his face as his smile twisted bitterly, "One thing I have learned, is that Fate is a bitch and has a habit of getting exactly what she wants. No matter what you do. Run away from it and hide. Run forward to embrace it."

"If she has a plan for you, there's not a damn thing you can do to avoid it. So the best thing you can do is live your life and let the chips fall where they may." Harry finished with a shake of his head.

While both women were trying to figure out exactly how to reply to that, Harry ran back through her points and his voice turned hard, drawing their attention away from his previous comment, "I have not 'taken' anyone from the Order, and certainly not a padawan. Remember, your cult decided to expel her first. Relinquishing any responsibilities you have to her also relinquishes any rights. You can't have it both ways."

"Yes, we removed her from the Order. Yes that was a mistake, and yes we relinquished any rights to guide her." Shaak Ti replied honestly. "And she had every right to walk away. But that does not excuse you preying on a weakness of our race like a predator to bring her under your influence."

Harry looked ready to retort by arguing the definition of guide versus control, before his face twisted in confusion. "Er… what?"

Shaak Ti seemed puzzled at his confusion, and echoed his words. "What?"

"What 'weakness of your race'?" Harry asked, looking honestly curious.

Shaak Ti's eyes flicked to Aayla's and then back to Harry's as she tried to read his face. Not being able to sense him forced her to rely on her observation of his expressions in determining his honesty. After several moments of indecision she finally decided to answer his question. It wasn't like it was some galactic secret.

"What do you know of Togruta?" Shaak Ti asked curiously.

"Um. I've met a few in my travels. But only in passing really." Harry answered honestly, still sounding puzzled.

"While I'm not going to an in depth description of Togruta history. Suffice it to say because of how we evolved, we have a strong sense of unity and togetherness." Shaak Ti explained, "We as a race have a natural aversion to being isolated and alone."

Harry tilted his head thoughtfully, "When you say natural aversion…" he trailed off wanting clarification.

"I mean we are genetically predisposed to wanting to be in a group, to have friends and companionship." Shaak Ti clarified.

"Huh, a race that has a tendency towards communal groups. Sounds a lot like veela then." Harry said thoughtfully as he considered it.

He hadn't known that, but it did help explain a few things. Ahsoka jumping in with both feet with him so impulsively after they had met now seemed to make more sense. It also helped explain why her getting removed from the Order hurt her so much as to cause an extreme reaction.

It was also a testament to her strength. If she was naturally inclined to be in a group, and to avoid isolation and being alone, then the choice not to return to the Order spoke of a strength of will, even he had underestimated.

"I bet that works well with that whole 'no attachments' thing the Jedi code harps on." Harry said a trace of snark in his voice, though there was no real heat to it as he considered the implications for Ahsoka.

On one hand it increased his respect for her, since she had to fight her own nature to walk away from the Jedi Order in the first place. On the other it made him angrier at the Order.

"Your ignorance of that aspect of the Togruta nature does not change the fact that a few days with you, under your 'instruction' and her anger not just palpable but she is lashing out and causing destruction! She is on the path to the Dark side and you are leading her there," Shaak Ti straightened resolutely, "Ahsoka Tano falling to the Dark Side would be nearly as bad as someone like Master Yoda, Master Windu, or Skywalker falling. I will not let that happen."

"She's not on the path to this whole boogey-man anti-'Dark-Side' fetish you Jedi are so obsessed with." Harry finally allowed a bit of frustration to show as he rolled his eyes.

"Look around you! This is from a single loss of control!" Shaak Ti retorted quickly, gesturing around at the room where everything was scattered and flung anywhere. "If you hadn't reached her there's no telling how much destruction her anger could cause! This is precisely why anger and hate are dangerous!"

"Being angry in response to be screwed over and betrayed by people you trusted is actually a pretty fucking common and _natural_ response in _any_ sentient life form." Harry's voice was firm, all trace of lightheartedness gone. "It has to be confronted and dealt with if you're ever going to move on as a person and not turn into a callous emotionally repressed arsehole or some vengeful and likely deranged psychopath."

"Your cult's method of just swallowing it whole and pretending it'll just go away…. is so destructive and flat out unhealthy it's not even funny." Harry pushed off the table to stand up taking a single step forward to stare down into Shaak Ti's black eyes.

She tensed, her hand shifting slightly to drift toward her lightsaber but paused when Harry made no move other than to stare into her eyes.

"And to top it all off, you have the audacity to stand there and try and advocate a stance that any rational person would find ludicrous. Seriously, have the Jedi Order ever tried to explain their tenets to an actual adult? Assuming they weren't afraid of you, I'd be surprised if you weren't laughed out of the conversation." Harry shook his head a little bit, mostly at Shaak Ti's surprised expression as she considered that. "And any mental health professional would recommend that _you_ seek counseling!"

"And I'm not just speaking rhetorically. That is exactly what a mental health professional would do. I can actually say that. I should know, I got a PhD in psychology. Now granted, it was under the name Dudikins Dursley, which is one of many reasons my wives told me I should leave the naming of things to others."

Harry shook his head and moved back to lean against the table once more. "In my defense, I chose that name since I doubted there would be any good academic records I'd be stepping on or anyone who traveled in the same circles. I got bored one decade, decided to see how long I could go without using magic and it was one of the things I did on a lark."

Harry was lost in his thoughts as he smiled wistfully. "I managed nearly fifteen years... till that one night in Tokyo where I was presenting at a conference and wandered into the magical side of the city and ended up combining shots of firewhiskey, wine, vodka and sake into the most alcoholic drink imaginable. Though I think turpentine and anti-freeze might have also been added at some point. I'm a little hazy on that. I woke up in police custody for destruction of public property."

"I still say the statue had it coming," Harry muttered before he blinked and shook himself out of his memories.

He was able to tell by the completely confused looks on both Shaak TI's and Aayla's face that he had completely lost them and they didn't understand half the things he had just said. "Sorry, trip down memory lane later. Anyway, then you get into your whole 'Steps to the Dark Side' accusation towards Ahsoka."

Both women blinked at the stream of consciousness that Harry seemed to slip seamlessly into.

"Look, you clearly don't understand the magic I do," Harry started.

"I would be more than happy to let you explain it to me. in detail," Shaak Ti replied immediately. The demonstrations of Dobby and transfiguration, despite her misgivings regarding Harry's training of Ahsoka, his 'magic' was definitely something she wanted to understand and figure out.

"Maybe, eventually but that will involve oaths about not sharing or talking about it," Harry said, waving that aside. "I can tell you that despite what you have seen here tonight, what I am teaching Ahsoka Tano is no more likely to turn her into a bad guy than you initially teaching her to levitate a rock. And in fact will prevent her mind from being twisted by outside interference in the future. So she'll be less likely to do something against her will, whether that's fall to your Dark Side or actually carry out her anatomical threat from earlier."

He chuckled a little bit at the mental imagery before his expression once more sobered up. "Anyway, as to your last observation... yeah you hit that one pretty much on the nose, I don't like your Jedi Order. Your Order, reminds me so much of every decrepit corrupt group of 'old people' that's ever ruled over others with special powers."

Harry shook his head in disgust, "Different tune, same beat. If the people in charge aren't powerful enough to do it, it must be banned. If they don't understand it with anything less than a two minute overview, it must be suppressed just in case someone misuses it. If you've never heard of it, it's Dark."

"Whatever the bloody hell 'Dark' even means to them," Harry muttered to himself before he continued, "If it has ever been abused or the cause of a single person's downfall in the history of its existence, then it must be banned."

"If you can't personally account for every moment of my life before you met me, then I'm a threat," Harry shook his head with disgust. "Finally, you get your panties all in a bunch when one of the children you attempted to indoctrinate decides to go their own way."

"At the end, it all boils down to, that If I'm such a bad person, where's your proof? Have I hurt innocent people? Tortured animals? Punted any midgets out of any airlocks?" Harry demanded, rolling his eyes.

Then he hesitated and his voice turned a trace defensive, "Well, I guess Dobby did that to some trandoshan slavers. And sorta technically I tossed Aayla out of a ship, but we were in atmo, and I was with her so that doesn't count."

"So, what evidence do you have that I'm dark and evil? And not circumstances that Jedi seem to accept as evidence if Ahsoka's trial is anything to go off of," Harry said with more than a trace of snark, gratified to see embarrassment flush across Shaak Ti's face. "I mean actual tangible evidence beyond pointing your finger and saying 'nanny nanny poo poo, I don't like you'."

"I don't appreciate the accusation, and I certainly don't appreciate your presence here the longer that you're here making assumptions based upon narrowly interpreted observations without asking questions to understand what you don't know," Harry shook his head. "In fact I feel less intelligent the longer I'm in proximity to you. Which as my wives might have commented, is saying something."

"I find it ironic that the fact of the matter is that your precious Order is a complete joke." Harry said, his tone turning dismissive. "'Servants of the Living Force'... my arse. You don't seem to do a whole lot of serving unless someone needs a convenient martyr for something but you sure do a lot of ordering about. You have no concept of what life or living is and your understanding of what you call the 'Force' is limited to say the least. And let's not even get into your hypocritical stance on 'slavery'."

Harry seemed to realize he was on a rant and deflated a little bit, sighing and shaking his head.

Aayla and Shaak Ti had both stiffened at Harry's string of accusations. But the last one caused the currently bright pink Twi'lek to interject immediately, her eyes flashing. "What hypocritical stance on slavery? The Jedi Order is against slavery. We may not be able to stop it everywhere in the galaxy yet but we are against it. We're very clear on that."

Harry tilted his head to regard her. "Well, that's awfully funny because, by my estimation, the Jedi Order is a huge supporter of the single largest slave owner in the galaxy."

"This coming from the man who by his own admission owns a slave," Shaak Ti replied, her voice cold and sharp. This was an argument she had heard before by some of the critics of the Order, "The Jedi Order doesn't have anything to do with slavery The children we bring into the Jedi Order are always given a choice and are free to leave at any time. As you should no doubt see by Ahsoka Tano's presence here."

Harry's mouth thinned somewhat at Shaak Ti's mention of Dobby and his eyes flashed somewhat. "It's interesting that you immediately jumped to that thought, and I'd be interested to tell if every single family that gave up a child did it willingly, without any 'persuasion.' But that's not what I'm talking about."

"What are you talking about?" Aayla asked cautiously.

"Clones," Harry replied simply.

"Clones are not slaves," Shaak Ti and Aayla responded reflexively in unison. She had worked with them, befriended them.

"Oh? I see," Harry nodded agreeably to their point. "This must be one of those cultural things I don't understand. There's obviously another definition for creating an entire race of people for one purpose. People who then are given no choice but to join a war not their own so that they could fight and regularly die in. Of course not before it is ensured that those clones that are created have the requirement to follow every order given to them through the chain of command. You know… stripping them of their free will."

Harry tapped his chin and his voice turned sarcastic. "You're right that doesn't sound like slavery _at all._"

Shaak Ti regarded him neutrally, her face not betraying her thoughts at all. Aayla on the other hand was staring at Harry in open mouthed horror. No one had ever laid it out so clearly, at least for her, nor had she even considered the subject before. For someone like her, whose race was one of the most enslaved in the galaxy, and had even been a slave herself, it was a stunning thought.

A devastating hammerblow had just been taken to her galaxy-view and her perception of the Republic, the Jedi Order and herself as well.

"The Jedi council didn't order the clones created," Shaak Ti responded after several silent moments.

"Of course not, you just didn't object to using them when they fell in your lap," Harry replied evenly. "Eagerly available canon-fodder whose mere presence allows you to not have to conscript people into serving in your war."

"The galaxy has been plunged into war. We would have fallen without an army," Shaak Ti replied, her eyes regarding Harry more thoughtfully now.

"Ah, yes. Of course. Needs must while the devil drives. It's for the Greater Good. The ends justify the means," Harry spouted off several sayings before he sighed and seemed to slump a little bit, a weary look manifesting on his face. "I've heard it all before. Excuses for doing what is easy rather than what is right."

He shook his head and then fixed them with another stare. "The only reason your Republic still exists is because its foundations now firmly rest upon the backs of the slaves you now have fighting for it."

"Without them the Republic would have fallen to the Separatists," Shaak Ti replied quietly.

"So?" he responded succinctly and somewhat apathetically.

"So? _So?" _Aayla interjected in disbelief. "The Republic has stood for thousands of years."

"That hardly makes it _good_. And everything falls eventually. There's a reason that what… some six _thousand_ worlds think that the philosophy of the Separatists is better?" Harry replied. "Did anyone stop to think that _maybe_ they have a few legitimate reasons?"

"Do you support the Separatists?" Shaak Ti asked quietly as she regarded her with cautious dark eyes.

Harry actually sneered at her. "That's a very loaded question. One I could never answer _correctly_ given the connotations in which you asked."

Before she could respond, he started to speak, "Are you asking me if I support the Separatists… as in directly support them in some way? Then the answer is no."

"Are you asking me if I've sat down and reviewed the histories of a majority of the worlds, isolated those who are being led around by corrupt leaders, and then looked at the remainder, those who have legitimate concerns and were dumped on by the Republic and agree with their stance on why they want no further part of things? The answer is also no."

He paused to catch his breath, and before they could interject, he continued, "Or are you asking me if I'm an armchair philosopher, who agrees that they probably have some legitimate gripes about the situation, but like 90% of this galaxy, I am too apathetic towards the whole situation to give a damn because it will probably never affect me personally? That's probably a yes."

"How can you say that?" Shaak Ti asked. "This war, affects everyone. Hardly a world is untouched by this war and the sides needing to be chosen."

"But it doesn't. The majority of people don't care about the war. They don't see any difference between one side and the other," Harry smiled a sad smile. "I explained this a few days ago to Aayla, on the ship. It's the same reason there is an undercurrent of resentment toward the Jedi because of the war. Because they don't see the differences between Jedi and Sith. All they see are people wielding glowy swords with amazing powers."

"But when talking about ruling ideologies, that's the part you should be concerned with. Right now, both sides of the conflict are working to appear moderate under the constraints of the war to appeal to worlds as best they can. What happens when one side emerges victorious and they don't have to appear that way anymore?"

He pressed on despite the look of confusion on both women's face. He knew he was preaching slightly but he did have a tendency to ramble, a habit that had only gotten worse with time. "The fact of the matter is, based on what I'm seeing from an outsider's perspective. Both sides have their share of idealists who probably don't see reality of situations. Both sides have their opportunists who are only out for ways this can benefit them. And the leadership of both sides seem to take turns at being amazingly adept and then shockingly incompetent. Whether through political infighting or other reasons. I can't say."

"Both sides have their share of characters who are less than pleasant to death with for various reasons." Harry shook his head again, disgust in his voice.

"To answer the crux of your question. I don't trust either side in this conflict. One side seems overtly aggressive and militaristic. Though to be fair, that is historically common in relatively new political movements good or bad." Harry shrugged, "It tends to be necessary since change generally requires a boot in the arse. People prefer to stay with the status quo because it's easier. But from what I can that side tell relies almost exclusively on droids and people who volunteer willingly for their armed forces."

"The other side is more reactionary, and seems to be less focused and hear more opinions but respect less opinions. It also seems to be mired in bureaucracy and red tape too much to really get anything done, and seems to support slavery in the form of clones."

"That is why I've mostly just stayed the hell out of it and let the two sides duke it out battle after battle," Harry stated plainly cutting off any rejoining comment Aayla might have made. Though internally given the events that seemed to be happening around him, he wondered just how long he would be able to say that he was staying out of it.

It was nothing concrete but Harry had always been good at sensing an oncoming storm, and since Ahsoka had joined him, he had gotten the feeling that there was a doozy on the horizon. One that history and statistics told him he was going to tempted to be dragged into… mostly because of his inability to see someone else suffering and not stand idly by doing nothing. The fact he now had two Generals of the current conflict and a discharged military commander as his apprentice was ignored for now. Though no hint of his internal musing showed on his face.

Shaak Ti regarded him levelly, though there was still more than a little caution in her face. She had heard of people saying the conflict didn't involve them, and didn't impact them for various reasons before so it wasn't a new concept.

The way Harry laid out his argument, she couldn't necessarily agree with. There were things she presumed he didn't see and wasn't aware of. But she had also never heard the argument about clones laid out like that before. She wondered though, if the battle wasn't between the Republic and the Separatists, but either the Republic or the Separatists and someone else, a planet, or a population, what Harry's reaction would be.

Shaak Ti tilted her head and regarded Harry in silence for several minutes as she considered these things. She could hardly blame him for neutrality. Entire systems had declared the same thing. She didn't necessarily agree with everything he was saying but she couldn't refute that from his point of view it made sense.

Harry just let the silence hang, meeting her gaze unflinchingly.

"I disagree with you on a great many things, especially on the galaxy and the Republic. However you have also given me some things to think on and hope to have a deeper discussion at another time." She took a long deep breath, and then bowed her head slightly. "I will give you my apologies for the conclusions I drew."

He looked surprised, having forgotten that the conversation actually started with her accusing him of being evil. Though he was more surprised that she admitted to being wrong and at least seemed to be listening to his words rather than preparing further arguments to advocate their stance. He inwardly snickered, that had happened so many times in the past that it was hardly a surprise that he lost count. He just nodded his head in acknowledgement of her apology.

She nodded in return before she continued, her tone conciliatory, "So, if what you say is true, may I ask what you said was happening to Pad- Miss Tano?"

Harry regarded her thoughtfully for a moment before he tilted his head in acceptance of her apology and attempt to move on. "She is learning a skill called Occlumency. The first two steps are something that seem to be central to the Jedi Order. Clearing your mind and remaining calm. The Order seems to stop there and then branch off into their own… directions. Only utilizing that skill for some reason and never actually taking the 'skill' to its true potential."

"But the next step in the process is organizing and categorizing one's memories after you've entered your own mindscape. Ahsoka has been doing that since the day after I met her. Part of that process is reliving those memories," Harry crossed his arms. "That is _every _memory you've had of your entire life. Not just viewing, but experiencing them again. That includes the emotions that come with them, which leaves the person far more emotional than normal for awhile."

"In fact, she will continue to relive the same traumatically emotional memories over and over again until she can dispassionately re-live any trauma she's experienced in her life with perfect clarity without totally breaking down," Harry lectured calmly, appreciating their attentive listening. "Completing this process means she had accepted and moved on from every trauma, trial and misdeed she has ever experienced. Normally that entire process takes several months to a year of work., but Ahsoka seems to be somewhat of a prodigy."

"However, now that she's almost there, she soon be able to finish the defenses on her mind that are slowly built while doing this, and be able to hide herself, not to mention making her a much more mentally healthy and stable individual," he finished before he sighed and shrugged his shoulders helplessly. "But until that happens, every wrong that has ever been committed by her, or by others _to_ her will be right at the surface, and it will take very little to set her off while she deals with those fresh emotions."

"Especially as I _know_ she's been putting off dealing with the emotions of everything she's gone through recently thanks to your Order," His tone was sharp as he finished. Making it clear that he would not brook argument on those points.

Shaak Ti was frowning at that as she turned that over in her mind. "Thank you for answering my question. Do you mind if I take some time to meditate on what I have seen and learned today before asking you any follow up questions?"

Harry shrugged. "Sure, knock yourself out, Red."

Shaak Ti showed no reaction to the name, though nodded a little bit and looked around before she turned and departed the room, choosing to head out of the doors to the house.

Harry watched her go before raising an inquiring eyebrow at Aayla who stayed behind. "Yes?"

"Did you have to push her like that?" Aayla asked with a frown on her face. She watched her friend go and, like so often before, it was hard to tell what the woman was thinking.

"In a word? Yes," Harry replied blandly.

"Why?" She asked, "And please don't tell me it's because you think it's fun."

"Fine, I won't say that. But... from what I have seen the Order is just like dealing with a child who's been indoctrinated with his or her parents pure blood beliefs from my society. You have to rub their nose in the fact that their belief structure is, not only wrong, but stupid," Harry sighed a little bit and slumped.

"And this probably won't even be the last time I do this with her if she hangs around much longer. She might question everything I do in minutiae, never accepting any of it at face value until it's been proven not once, twice or even three times that her initial gut reaction to it was wrong."

"I may have to do this, over and over again, citing logical arguments, sources, and empirical, unassailable data to prove my point, and I'm willing to bet it still won't be enough for her. It's not that I'm proving myself right to her, I have to repeat it so many times because she has to give up on the immediately assumption that I'm wrong."

Harry's eyes met Aayla's. "Much like you, she has had doctrines, platitudes, and rules rammed down her throat for what… 35 years? She somehow thinks that makes her an expert on life, the universe, and everything. I have no use for people who can only quote what they have been told without thinking for themselves about the words others have put in their mouths for them."

"I think I outgrew the concept of believing everything everyone else told me to think by the time I was twenty or so… and as my wives pointed out, I could be an exceptionally slow learner at times," Harry said fondly as he smiled a little bit, "She's long overdue for the revelation that truths about good and evil are best discovered on your own and not spoon-fed to you by others. I mean, is that the standard reaction to anyone that ever questions the Jedi Order?"

At Aayla's inquiring look, Harry clarified. "To slip into an aggressive stance and stop asking questions? I thought you people were against violence, and here she was ready to violently respond to me. Don't even pretend that you didn't see her shift, I know you did by your own reaction to it."

"At least you only seem to be tempted to jam your lightsaber into my head when I'm making smart arse comments, not when I'm simply provoking genuine questions in your mind. Asking you to think for yourself," Harry offered, his voice surprisingly gentle.

Aayla was surprised, the shift had been subtle and would have taken someone very experienced at reading body language and in combat to recognize. She wondered just how much experience Harry had with people like that. Aayla narrowed her eyes, a suspicion dawning on her face. "Is that what you were doing with me? Trying to see if I could think instead of just quote others?"

Harry nodded, unashamedly "To an extent yes. On your end, and this is a compliment, so please don't take it the wrong way, you don't seem as hard core in your absolute reliance on a doctrine written by other sentient beings to live by. You seem to realize that the Jedi Code wasn't written by a god, and there are certainly things wrong with it in its current state."

"Magic, or your 'Force', didn't somehow manifest itself one day and start writing a 'treatise on how to be anal-retentive'," Harry shrugged slightly. "I told you when we first talked that I was provoking you because people reveal more of themselves when they're angry."

Aayla smiled a little bit, "That wasn't all you mentioned revealed people's true natures."

Harry grinned, "Yes well, I didn't think she would let me get her drunk. And I have no idea what might get her horny."

"Well, she already told you it takes far more than a small prick to get her excited," Aayla said with a smirk as Harry blinked in surprise. Aayla was pleased that she had gotten a shot in after all the comments he'd directed her way over the past few days.

"Yes well, I don't have much experience with that myself," A wider smile crossed his face for a few moments before his expression grew more serious. "The path to independent thought and reason, is never an easy route, especially in light of what you've likely been fed your entire life."

"Ahsoka has it easier than the two of you," Harry gestured vaguely in the direction of where he had laid the exhausted girl down to sleep.

"Given what she's gone through in the past few weeks, I hardly would say she's had an easy time of it," Aayla disagreed.

"That's true," Harry nodded, "But that's not what I'm talking about. From everything I've seen and she's told me, she had some deeply rooted doubts about your Order already. From starting as a troubled padawan that no one wanted before she was finally assigned, to the trauma of the past few weeks was a breaking point for her. So she's quite willing to believe that the Order is wrong on many fronts."

"One would even say eager," Aayla ventured. Her tone was careful as she didn't want to ruin the in depth conversation she seemed to have found herself engaged in with the enigmatic man still sitting casually on the table.

"Also true," Harry replied with a bit of a sigh. "In truth, if I hadn't run into her, it's entirely possible that she would have gone looking for the opposite of your Order and explored that 'Dark Side' you Jedi are all so afraid of. Not joined them outright, but she would've had no problem delving into things better left untouched."

"Are you sure?" Aayla noted how easily he dismissed his role in physically saving Ahsoka. Him taking it as accepted that she would have escaped. But the young woman's words rung in her mind. _"I'm dead. Do you understand that? Without him, I'm dead." _

"Not really," Harry admitted as he lifted his shoulders in another shrug. "But it's pretty common when people feel like the values they've held and been taught have failed them. They go looking for the exact opposite, many times deliberately."

Harry chuckled a little bit. "The scaled down, melodramatic angsty version of it is known to educators, parents, and guardians everywhere as 'the teenage years'."

Aayla allowed a brief smile to cross her face at that.

"While her path to now has been harder. She finds me encouraging her to think and act on her own easier," Harry said after a brief pause.

"Easier than whom?" Aayla inquired, though she felt she already knew the answer. She was proven right a moment later.

"Easier than you," Harry replied honestly, "She has small doubts but she is jumping in with both feet. You have big doubts that are holding you back even as you want to explore everything I'm showing you about your Force."

Aayla opened her mouth to argue, or protest, she wasn't sure but Harry cut her off with a raised hand. "Why else are you still walking around with the wand that was matched so well to you?"

Aayla bit her lip and looked down. It was true it was right next to her lightsaber and she had been moving around all day carefully of it, and found herself reaching down with her fingers to touch it every so often, feeling warmth spread beneath her finger.

"I can also tell you've had your own doubts. Maybe not the same as Ahsoka, but they're still there," Harry said, his gaze boring into Aayla intently. "I also think, from the way you exploded at me back on the ship when we talked that you have your own personal demons to work through. You will very likely toss more than a few chairs around yourself when you get to that point."

"Your friend out there… she doesn't have the same interest. At least not yet," Harry explained, his tone still soft despite his piercing gaze.. "Don't get me wrong, she's curious. But she isn't already questioning. Not like you."

"And… that's why you were pressing my buttons in the first place?" Aayla asked, her tone filled with doubt.

"I was just seeing whether you could think, and whether you'd admit to feeling like any sentient being as well," Harry replied. "I didn't do it with Shaak Ti because she didn't ask to stay."

"So, just as she was determined to find fault with myself and what I've shown Ahsoka, I was just as determined to make her at least think. Even if she decides I'm wrong, she'll have to have thought about it." Harry's expression turned very tired as fatigue seemed to overcome him. "The moment people stop thinking for themselves, is the moment a movement, organization, culture, or civilization dies."

Aayla regarded Harry quietly for several moments, as she chewed her bottom lip and asked quietly. "Did you mean what you said about the clones?"

Harry met her eyes and shrugged a little bit. "I simply call it like I see it."

"But you're saying… the Order… the entire Republic…" She trailed off not sure what to say, her entire view had changed and she wasn't sure how to react.

Harry shrugged. "I'm not sure what you want me to tell you."

When she appeared to look a bit lost, Harry realized that it just wasn't worth it to metaphorically hit a girl when she's down.

"Now, am I blaming you personally for the decision the higher-ups of the Senate and the Council to continue to create clones, use the military assets that magically became available to you in order to protect yourself from a foe that also manufactures its soldiers on an assembly line?"

She looked up at him at this, when the pause had started to lengthen, he said, "No, I don't blame you."

Before she could say anything, "But that doesn't excuse you, or anyone else in this galaxy from stepping back and at least realizing exactly what kind of lives those Clones have and what classification it truly falls under. Whether you're in a position to do anything about it is an entirely separate issue. I mean, it's not like you can wave a hand and free all the members of your own species, right? You can't expect the weight of freeing the Clones from their chains of servitude to be any easier."

"Why aren't you out there helping then?" Aayla asked. A week ago when she'd met him, that might have come out like a demand after seeing some of his abilities. Now it was just honest curiosity.

Harry regarded her thoughtfully for a few moments, his thoughts echoing her own. "Simple answer? I'm a hypocrite." He answered honestly, weariness once more in his tone.

"And the not so simple answer?" Aayla asked intuitively, despite being taken slightly aback by her comment.

"Not so simple answer?" Harry mused as his eyes got a faraway look, "I'm not sure what a wizard's role should be in this galaxy."

"Or more specifically, I'm not sure what _my_ role should be." His lips twitched in a smirk or a sigh, Aayla wasn't sure, "Because if I get involved, and I mean truly involved, things will change."

"You did that when you helped against the slavers." Aayla pointed out,

Harry shook his head, his voice quiet, "No, I didn't_. _Right now I live my own life, explore, pursue my own interests, and occasionally flit along the edges of events. I save a life here and there, maybe occasionally more than one. But I've avoided interfering in ways that would bring me more prominence than I feel is necessary. In fact, here on Kashyyyk is the only place anyone of prominence in the ruling government even has real information on me. And that's minimal at best. As for my reasons for this, some are altruistic and others make me a selfish bastard."

"But… if I place myself at the center of events… your galaxy may not ever be the same." Harry's voice dropped to a soft whisper, "And… if I start getting involved again, where and when do I stop?"

Aayla just stared at him for a long moment as she processed that. She was tempted to tell him that he had gotten involved. That things already were changed. She was also tempted to ask what he meant by 'again'. But she didn't know how to put it in words in response to his blunt honesty. There was no trace of humor or joking that she usually found in conversation with him. He seemed strangely vulnerable at the moment.

Her voice was soft as she finally responded, "You are a very complicated person, Harry Potter."

Harry blinked and stared at her for a second before a sad smile crossed his face. "You aren't the first to say so. I doubt you'll be the last."

His smile turned more amused and she saw his expression warm up a little bit. "Usually there's more swearing involved though…. or a bit of an afterglow."

Aayla shook her head a little bit ignoring the innuendo and then glanced around. "I think I'm going to follow Shaak Ti's direction and meditate for awhile as well."

She didn't see the small smile on his face as she forgot to ask once more to change her back to blue.

After she had left, Harry's grin faded as his mind replayed the events of the day. One moment in particular. It wasn't often he experienced something that he'd _never_ seen or at least heard of before. Unfortunately, running into such an experience now was very troubling.

He pushed himself off his table and headed toward the shelves of books. He had some research to do.

**ooOooOoOOoOooOoo**

**Author's notes:**

**1) I am sure some reviewers are going to bitch and moan that I'm once more bashing the Jedi Order. I'm giving Harry's opinions. I will once again remind people that Harry is NOT omniscient and that *Gasp* he can be wrong as well. But I'm also pointing out events as they happened and stood in canon. Bashing? Maybe. Though the only other option is to ignore the events and pretend they didn't happen. **

**2) I am SUPER pleased with this chapter. For a variety of reasons. I admit I really like seeing the impacts of events that have happened to Ahsoka as well as Harry's influence on her. It also explores Harry's interactions with Shaak Ti and Aayla in a way that I think is genuine. Ways they would actually interact. Not instantly buddy buddy with one another. But tension and disagreement. The way that can happen when someone blows up your world view. I also like that we're beginning to poke and prod at Harry. Seeing some of his own self reflection and his own issues popping up. Showing he's more than just jokes and powerful. I just really like the characterizations from the chapter. **

**3) This chapter and next I admit I really enjoyed writing. Especially imagining Ahsoka blowing up part of Harry's room like he did the Headmaster's office :P Fair warning though, we're nearing the end of what I've pre-written/outlined. (actually - we have 4-5 more chapters, just not all completely fleshed out)**

**4) Plums Piddles: **

**At this point, we've hopefully managed to paint most of the colors we'll need for the four main characters we've thrust forward. There will obviously be more characters coming down the road at some point, but these four really are our most prominent. Hopefully there's nothing 'flat' about them, and the reactions and character arcs we're setting up for them have a good basis.**

**Kat: Heh We've still got more characters coming. **

**ooOooOoOOoOooOoo**

**Alternative Chapter Titles:**

"**The Annals of History." - Harry**

"No." - Aayla

"It's funny because annals is one letter away from-" Harry

"We know. And it's not that funny." - Aayla.

"**Temper Tantrum from Hell"- Ahsoka**

"**Powers of Observation" - Shaak Ti**

"Sherlock Holmes, you are not."- Harry.

"**He really needs to try another way of getting people to reveal their true selves. He keeps going with anger. Drunk or horny would be so much more fun." - Plums**

"Agreed." - Harry

"**The only good use for Black Family crap." - Tonks**

"**Guys? Is my scene over? Can I stop now?" - Dancing Mouse**

"**I get the feeling I'm going to end up in the middle of things again." - Harry.**

"Duh." - Anyone who knew him. Ever.

**Alternate titles suggested for last chapter: **

**Wizard Blood Drives: Fiction.**

**Aayla Secura, a twi'lek of a different color. (The richmaster)**

**"Harry Potter - his bodily fluids can kill you" - Medical Doctors**

"Future me might be in trouble..." Aayla Secura

**"Magic is Magic" - An in depth treaty on the complexities of magic by Dobby.**

**"Well at least she isn't about to start S.P.E.W" - Harry Potter on the topic of Shaak Ti**

**"Visions and prophecy mean little without context" - Shaak Ti **

"Hear, Hear" - Harry Potter


	11. Secrets of the Mind

**~Chapter 11~**

**Secrets of the Mind**

The sun was setting on the mountain palace that was as much a fortress as anything. Given the surrounding mountains, the lights and refraction off the snow made it artificially lighter until the system's star actually set. The planet of Scipio was mostly hills and mountains so this was far from a unique structure, albeit more reinforced and protected than most of the others. The palace was centuries old and built to defend any assault on it, as befitting the predominant warrior culture of the planet.

The banking clan had their headquarters on the planet, which made the planet an ideal place for the Sith to have one of their many bases, and one that was especially well protected. Any military force that attempted to occupy the planet would suffer massive casualties from a culture that built everything with a mind toward war.

However, despite their significant warlike mindset, that did not mean they skimped on the aesthetics. Everything about the palace's decorations and environment was understated but clearly expensive.

Count Dooku strode into the meeting room with a calm and confident grace. His cloak moved against his legs with every stride. His attire was a dark shade of gray, tinged with red and cost more than some galactic businesses made in a year. As most of his public outfits did. He was a man whose appearance and bearing screamed cultured and aristocratic with every movement.

He had a regal white beard that was trimmed exactingly and lent weight to his appearance as a cultured statesman. Despite his appearance as someone who was advancing in age, an experienced eye could tell he moved with an unnatural grace. His connection and skill with the Force allowed him to defy age with the physique of a young man.

He was flanked by two droids that followed him nearly everywhere and acted as his personal guard. Upon his own entrance to the room, the two highly customized droids stopped and moved to the side once they reached the door, stepping to the side as he surveyed the room with the merest glance.

Inside the room were screens on all of the available walls. Each screen displayed a variety of information, and Dooku could tell from a quick glance most of it was fleet analysis, of both their own and the Republic's. In the center of the room was a holoprojection table. The table was circular and there were three people already in the room. The most prominent of which was General Grievous.

The cyborg construct did not even glance up upon Dooku's entry, as he stood hunched over the table, as he examined a specific readout intently. Even the most cursory examination made it easy to tell that the body was mostly mechanical and it's respiration could be heard softly in the background.

Almost nothing remained of Grievous' Kaleesh organic roots.

The cyborg looked up as Dooku entered the room. "Count Dooku." He said by way of greeting. His voice came out deep, but also sounded like he was speaking through a tube.

"General." Dooku replied evenly. "Thank you for responding so quickly to my missive."

"The _Invisible Hand_ was already enroute when I received the message." Grievous replied with a dismissive wave of his mechanical hand. It was a measure of how much Grievous respected Dooku that he responded with anything approaching politeness.

"You've reviewed the information I sent you?" Dooku inquired, though he was certain the general had, he returned the cyborg's courtesy by extending him the politeness of the question.

"Of course." The general replied shortly as he returned his attention to the holographic readouts before him.

"What are your thoughts?" Dooku asked.

"Your estimates were correct. If your numbers accurately reflected the conglomeration of slavers that attempted to assault the wookiees, even the most generous estimate of our rather sketchy reports says they should not have been able to repel an assault of that strength without losing significant sentient capital."

"And your thoughts on our next assault proposal?" Dooku inquired, not bothered at all by the way Grievous had phrased the loss of life.

Assault proposals had occasionally been a sticking point before. Dooku and his Master Darth Sidious had wanted an assault on a specific world, or a specific time. Grievous had told them, rather bluntly that it wouldn't work.

After their first defeat on an assault they had hoped would be successful that Grievous had warned them against, they had learned to heed his counsel wisely, even with the aid of the Force they couldn't predict the outcome of every skirmish.

They had also learned to make their objectives clear. There were times when they _wanted_ assaults to falter for political reasons. Sometimes because the failure would be better in gaining them allies or resources, other times because it served their grander purposes.

However Grievous' ruthless approach and willingness to sacrifice nearly anything to achieve objectives, provided it didn't hinder long term goals, also had more than once made a campaign _too_ successful. It was a delicate balance to keep the Senators of the Republic feeling threatened, without having them panicking.

Grievous tapped his metallic fingers on the side of the holoprojector as he formed his response. "It is ambitious and could be very beneficial. But it carries with it significant risk. Strategically and politically."

"My Master has already considered the political ramifications and deems them acceptable." Dooku replied dismissively. "A show of strength to our allies and a clear message to our enemies."

It was true. Dooku had considered the ramifications and believed he came up with the same answers that his Master had done. When they publicly subjugated the wookiees, it would be a significant step forward for both the visible Separatist goals, and their private goals as the Sith..

The wookiees had mostly remained neutral in the fight, especially due to the influence of their King. It was possible the attack would roust other races and worlds, ones that remained in support of the Republic, if not actively engaging in the war. If that happened and they decided to more strongly join the war effort it might start tipping the balance in areas.

His Master had assured him that the opposite would happen. Worlds would look to their own borders, not wanting the same to happen to them. The Republic would send a token force and maybe some guerrilla forces to the planet that would conduct hit and runs that would be more irritating than problematic. But the benefits for their own plans would definitely be worth it. The natural resources on the lush planet would be beneficial, but they were far secondary to the labor force that would then become available to them.

"Militarily you want overwhelming force, not a protracted ground war. We can do that. It might however tip more of our hands as far as strength and composition of our forces." Grievous explained looking up as he tapped metallic fingers on the edge of the holographic display.

Dooku simply tilted his head and waited for Grievous to expand.

"Based on the latest estimates the Republic has of our forces, they don't know of any of our hidden resources." Grievous declared, it's yellow eyes focused on Dooku. "We have taken great pains to keep our real numbers hidden.

Dooku smirked slightly, it had been one of Grievous' better ideas to keep all ship and robot building at max production and then hide those resources in out of the way systems within the shadows of moons and other areas.

It's what made robots so much more efficient than organics many times. They could wait there for a very long time without having to worry about being re-supplied. The ships could sit there, minimal power and navigation and simply waiting for an activation signal. As such they had far more muscle to flex than the Republic dreamed if they needed it.

Once more though the balance required was always the challenge.

When he saw that Dooku appeared unconcerned with this, Grievous pressed on. "The other issue is the terrain of Kashyyyk."

Grievous tapped a few keys on the holoprojector and it burst to life. On it showed the planet Kashyyyk hovering in the air before them, spinning slowly.

"Given the trees and the ecosystem," there was a pause as he coughed several times before continuing, "The ideal solution would be to mass our landing forces in one area." Grievous explained as another metallic tap of the keys from his cyborg hands caused the display to zoom in and focus on a small section of beach along the waterfront.

Dooku paid no mind to the coughing, well aware it was a side effect of the process of turning Grievous into a cyborg.

Grievous pointed at the map for emphasis, "Focused incursions in their main cities, especially after the recent failed raid, would likely lead to many of our drop ships being destroyed before they could even begin to take control of the cities, let alone become an occupying force that could hold the planet."

"What about aerial bombardment?" Dooku inquired patiently.

"While having them landed in one area would leave them vulnerable to bombardment, our fleet will be more than enough to prevent that from happening." Grievous looked up at Dooku with yellow eyes focused on the man. "I don't know how many ships they had to repel the group of pirates, but there is no way the wookiees have enough ships hidden to take on the portion of our fleet I have posed to strike and keep these mystery forces occupied in the air."

When Dooku didn't reply, Grievous continued his explanation. "As for our ground forces, Spreading them out would work to the benefit of any ground force counterattack, and that is something the Wookiees are known for. They are far more deft at maneuvering into the ecological deathtrap of their forests than any foreign military force could dream of."

Dooku narrowed his eyes in contemplation while his mind worked out the intricacies of Grievous' comments.

Grievous had already figured out the issue and didn't give him time for consideration. "The problem with that is that it gives whatever defenses the wookiees may have, a several hour window of time while the forces land en masse to commence an aerial bombardment on a concentrated area."

"If that were our only concern, a fleet in orbit could be used to discourage any planetary defense response. However I am concerned that Republic responses could be tipped off early and do the same." Grievous explained, "They would not even need to stay long to engage with our fleet, a hop in and a powerful bombing run would render this assault problematic. Or they could arrive in system, skirmish with our orbital fleet and prevent us from protecting our invasion force."

"You have an idea." Dooku observed quietly.

"I do." Grievous replied. He tapped a few more keys on the holoprojector. The planetary view shifted to display an entirely different planet.

Count Dooku narrowed his eyes at the planet that appeared. It seemed familiar but it's name escaped me.

"I propose to hit Rothana." Grievous stated.

Count Dooku simply looked at Grievous with a an expectant expression.

"It's perfect for a diversion and a valuable target." Grievous explained. "Rothana Heavy Engineering produces a large number of Low Altitude Assault Transports almost exclusively for the Republic war effort.."

Grievous tapped his finger on the console and a section of the planet was highlighted to display immense production facilities, "We take another portion of our here to engage with Kuat Drive Yards corporate-security starfleet. While we take the time to significantly damage the facilities on the ground. Then we retreat."

Count Dooku stroked his beard thoughtfully, as he considered the proposal, "It is valuable enough that the Republic would be rushing to respond, " he observed.

"Correct. Especially with the _Invisible Hand_ there leading the fight." Grievous replied, "We would find it near impossible to hold the facilities for any amount of time, much less long enough to avail ourselves of their production. Between Kuat Shipyard security and the Republic, we will likely be pushed back."

Grievous let that hang in the air before continuing, "However, if we damaged it enough to halt production for a few weeks, perhaps a bit longer. It would weaken the Republic's ground response capabilities. Making the prospect of taking Kashyyyk back a pipedream, they wouldn't sacrifice a suddenly severely limited resource. Especially with all the non-human bias that has slowly crept in over the last decade amongst the halls of leadership."

Dooku was nodding slowly before he fixed his gaze on Grievous firmly. "I believe at last report there were several Jedi stationed upon Kuat."

Grievous nodded, "Seven at last count, waiting for the latest batch of troops to get transports."

Dooku allowed himself a small smile. He had no doubt that Grievous would attempt to kill the Jedi. He was nearly religious in his fervor for doing so. And he was good at it. Though, unlike many of their other minions, he was able to think clearly, knowing when it was better to retreat than continue an assault. It was yet another thing that made him valuable.

Grievous' infamous flagship presence would also draw the attention of the Republic like moths to a flame.

"And this is all ready for deployment?" Dooku asked after some more thought.

"Simply waiting on your command. If I leave within the hour on the _Invisible Hand_, both of the assaults can begin within twelve hours, Count Dooku." replied Grievous in a manner that, despite the fact that he really couldn't smile any more, showed there was clear anticipation in his voice.

Dooku considered the proposal in its entirety. This was one of his many responsibilities. His Master's position and schedule meant that he could not make every decision, or every choice possible for their movement. Sidious relied on Dooku to make these decisions, with their overall goals in mind and with the direction of the Dark side of the Force.

After over a minute's silent contemplation Count Dooku nodded, "Very well. I approve."

Grievous nodded, straightening up and then moving to another console to begin entering commands.

When Dooku saw there was nothing further he nodded to the General, who didn't even acknowledge the gesture enough to return it. Dooku shook his head ever so slightly, believing the trappings of courtesy must always be observed. However, rather than descend into an argument over it, he turned and swept from the room. His two droids taking up flanking positions on him once more the instant he passed them. .

He didn't speak to anyone as he strode through the halls of the fortress. Dooku was pleased that the assault would go as planned and was curious what the Jedi response would be in the aftermath of an attack on the Wookiees.

He was very familiar with his old Master. Yoda was friendly with the wookiees and would not be easily persuaded to forsake them. He had no doubt that the Jedi would be involved in the upcoming protracted ground war on Kashyyyk, and would leave them with a plethora of chances to continue to think the ranks of the Order. It would also be the first step in acquiring their large desired workforce.

As he entered his private area, the Droids flanking him stopped and moved to the side to guard the entrance with two other droids that were already present and who didn't so much as twitch at his passing.

The door shut behind him as he stepped into his actual private quarters. Dooku didn't let the droids into his private quarters, or meditation area. The only time he let them in his personal space was in the workout room when he wanted a workout to dueling.

He took one step into his inner quarters, when his lightsaber was suddenly in his hand and ignited with a snap-hiss.

The red beam surged to life just in time to catch two red lightsabers that had also ignited at the same time and were in mid-swipe to bisect him.

"Ah, Ventress, I was wondering when you were going to announce yourself," Count Dooku stated, almost pleasantly as if a fatal attack hadn't just been launched on him with no warning.

"Surprised, Dooku?" the bald-headed woman hissed. She pushed forward with as much physical strength, augmented by the Force as she could muster, trying to force Dooku's lightsaber back against him.

"Hardly," Dooku replied conversationally. "I was expecting you to turn up."

Despite her efforts, Dooku kept both lightsabers locked with his own and held against her anger and Force supplemented push, not seeming to be straining at all. Her eyes widened after a moment and then narrowed. She spun away from the exchange and tried to swipe backward with first one saber then the other, each slash a lethal strike.

Dooku calmly parried both swipes before spinning backward out of arm's reach of his would-be assassin. One arm went behind his back in a classic dueling stance as he continued to move.

"Your skill is improving," he observed casually, as a teacher would towards one who posed no threat to him.

"So this was a trap to get me to come to you?" Ventress kept back out of range as she practically snarled in anger. Her eyes were darting around the quarters. She had been here for nearly half an hour hiding her presence, having snuck in through a small window that would have been inaccessible to anyone without her abilities. She had seen no evidence of troops ready to spring.

"A trap?" Dooku asked, looking surprised, though his lips quirked in amusement.

"You're not going to imprison me!" Ventress snapped back at him, eyes already flicking around for the best way to escape

"Imprison you?" Dooku echoed her words a second time, amusement showing on his face clearly. "Not at all, you are free to leave without any harassment from myself or anyone else."

At her disbelieving look he stepped aside and moved away from her, shutting his lightsaber down once he had stepped away from any sort of convenient striking distance.

Ventress looked between him and the door her eyes flicking quickly.

Dooku still seemed amused, and reattached his lightsaber to his belt. Though that didn't fool Ventress, it was only slightly less accessible there than it was in his hand and he was more than fast enough to parry anything she launched at him, now that they were several meters apart.

"I'm pleased to see you overcame the trials I set for you." Dooku said, the smug amusement still in his tone.

"Trials? Ventress echoed in disbelief. "You tried to have me _killed._"

"Please." Dooku replied scornfully. "I'll admit that my Master ordered you killed, over my objections, I might add. But I simply arranged for an attempt."

"You destroyed the ship I was on!" Ventress accused in disbelief, pointing one of her still activated lightsabers at him.

"I did." Dooku stated plainly.

She looked at him, surprised that he had outright admitted it or didn't have some sort of excuse for it.

Once more Dooku's tone was scornful. "If the Jedi were resourceful enough to survive the ship's destruction then I knew _you _would be able to as well. If not, than my own estimation of your abilities would have been grossly exaggerated, and you would not have been worthy of the Sith, much less of being my apprentice."

She blinked at that logic but Dooku pressed on. "Who do you think arranged for the _Raider_ to be in the vicinity?"

Ventress frowned at the mention of the pirates on the scavenger ship that refused to take her to Dathomir.

"You are aware, that when they wouldn't do what I wanted, I killed them." She replied shortly.

"I am well aware,." Dooku replied with an amused smile. "It was money I didn't have to spend paying them. You are nothing if not thorough."

"But it served its purpose as it drew out the majority of the remaining witches of Dathomir and let us rid ourselves of their influence." Dooku said.

Ventress' grip on her lightsabers tightened as he so casually spoke of killing the Nightsisters.

"Given your string of failures I felt it necessary to push you. The experience on Dathomir and with the Nightsisters did precisely that." Dooku paused a moment to pour himself some wine from a pitcher sitting on a stand in the room. "The experience with the poison was quite the trial for me. But I've overcome far more than that."

He paused to look at her gesturing to a glass, clearly offering her a drink. When she shook her head he shrugged and took a drink of the glass he poured for himself.

"And then the bounty on Ahsoka Tano… I didn't even have to point you in that direction and you served your purpose well in that affair." Dooku smiled beatifically, "You are too smart not to know you were set up, and I knew it would only be a matter of time before you came back to confront me."

Ventress stared at him for over a minute, and he met her stare unflinchingly. She looked uncertain as she stared at his calm confident demeanor. "What do you expect to happen now?"

"Now, what happens is up to you my dear. As you have past the trials I set for you, you may reclaim your place at my side and continue to grow in the ways of the Force, and one day actually achieve the goal of killing me." He met her eyes, well aware that was how it worked in the Sith hierarchy. "Or you may leave. As I said. You won't even have to sneak out of here in a shuttle."

Assajj stared at him again as he waited patiently. She was unable to deny he had a point she wasn't strong enough to kill him. Not yet, but she was getting stronger. Finally she powered down her lightsabers and slowly clipped them to her belt.

She hesitated and then bowed her head slightly. "Then what do you wish of me, _Master?"_ The way she said it let him know there would be no trusting him.

He smiled and nodded slightly inwardly pleased as it was the outcome he had predicted from the start. "As it happens, I do have a task for you. I have someone, a nuisance on Nar Shaddaa, and I want them eliminated."

**oOooOoOOoOooOo**

Harry was paging through a large tome that was open on his lap. He was sitting cross-legged on top of one of the bookshelves that raised into the air over a dozen meters within his home. Normally he would be sitting at his desk, or at least in a chair. However he was pretty sure that Ahsoka had destroyed the chairs that weren't in his study. Besides at the moment he was opening and flicking through books at such a rapid pace that he'd spend all his time running back and forth searching for books on what he was looking for.

Instead he was sitting on top of one of the shelves, and summoning different books to him and banishing them back or simply tossing them to the top of another shelf when they didn't really have information he wanted. Half of the books he had grabbed likely hadn't been opened for centuries _before_ he was even born. Who knew if the information was still accurate? Or if any of it was subjected to the Wizarding World's typical brand of information censorship.

If it was useful, then it should be hidden and never spoken of.

This book in his hand had a section on the subject that currently vexed him, and it had Harry running his hand through his hair as he considered what he was reading. After so many years, he figured he was past getting himself into trouble with magic. With age comes wisdom.

Of course, that didn't seem to stop Harry Potter's uncanny ability to royally put his foot in a massive flaming pile of dragonshit without really intending to.

He had never looked at the dynamics of Apprenticeships in the magical world before. He had never taken on one, officially or otherwise. Nor had he ever considered doing so himself.

Sure he had taught for a few years at Hogwarts, so he was familiar with teaching students. Done it as a favor when several friends had asked he take over teaching Defense Against the Dark Arts. Seemed that they didn't like the completely useless drivel put in some of the classes. A few of his friends had gotten together and asked him, and he had been reluctant but willing to give it a shot.

He had also taught non-magical courses under an alias from time to time. It was a requirement to get his doctorates. He actually found that he enjoyed teaching and had an aptitude for it.

But those were students he occasionally offered extra focused tutoring, not magical apprentices.

Neither of his wives had ever taken on any apprentices. Tonks never cared enough to go for a Mastery, though she could have in transfiguration if she ever cared to get tested. Daphne had gotten several Masteries and could definitely could have taken on an apprentice in arithmancy or potions, but never had bothered with it. She definitely didn't enjoy teaching groups of students.

She had taught for a year at Hogwarts, and when she found herself claiming to understand why Snape was so upset all the time, she knew that it definitely wasn't for her.

Thus, Harry had no idea there was any sort of special circumstances that surrounded apprentices.

He hadn't even thought much about his words as he spoke them to Ahsoka. He had merely assumed it was another word for student. That assumption was apparently wrong and he was correcting his misunderstanding now.

She was upset, lashing out with a major burst of accidental magic, from the combination of occlumency and triggering events. He honestly thought she might have topped his own tantrum that destroyed the Headmaster's Office the night after they destroyed half of the Department of Mysteries.

He was just trying to make sure she knew she wasn't alone and that he was there for her. Of course he had put his foot right into it.

"Bloody saving people thing," Harry muttered under his breath.

The information he had found had been mostly general but the book he had now touched on different bonds and included a section on the Master-Apprentice bond. He knew when he started and encountered the words 'extremely rare' that the Harry Potter effect had struck again with a vengeance.

His eyes raced through the words and what he discovered didn't mollify him in the slightest. Usually a master and apprentice was just that, a legal arrangement. Teacher and student. Expert and protégé.

But apparently rare times the arrangement created a bond of sorts. The phenomenon was Almost exclusively only seen with powerful wizards. The most infamous example was Merlin and Morgana. Master and Apprentice turned lovers, who then turned bitter mortal enemies. There was other possible names he noted from history, including Nicholas Flamel and Albus Dumbledore.

Most of the information afterward was just guesswork and supposition.

Apparently it had to be entered mutually by consent and desire of both parties with both sides acknowledging it verbally.

He sighed inwardly he knew they both had fulfilled that. Ahsoka with her master comments and comments about being his apprentice and just recently his rather blunt statement to that effect as well.

It was the rest of it that concerned him.

A true apprenticeship was rare because apparently it wasn't fulfilled until both parties agreed that the agreed upon area had been mastered.

Which lead to a whole other problem since he'd agreed to teach her 'magic'. Without any real specifics… and that's what he intended when he made the statement.

To be honest most of that wasn't his main concern. It was the theory that a bond like that created some bleed over effect with the apprentice taking on magical traits and burdens, both positive and negative from the Master.

That did not excite him one bit.

Not at all.

Of course it also supposed that such a bond couldn't just be broken without mutual consent and only then with consequences for both parties that were theorized could be up to and include loss of magic and death.

The book theorized that it was what finally destroyed both Merlin and Morgana. They had shattered their bond and just disappeared from history.

"Fan-freaking-tastic," Harry muttered as he closed the book with a snap. Despite his mood, he knew better than to assume that the book was accurate when making guesses about history.

Though he knew from his own history that no one did know what happened to Merlin, the man had just disappeared entirely. He had done quite a bit of research into it and had come up with next to nothing. Though he had traced the presence of the man and legend through many old historical sites.

His attention was drawn away from the book as he felt a warning from the monitoring charm he had cast on Ahsoka. He silently thanked many years of dealing with women, knowing that when someone, especially a woman, cries themselves to the point of exhaustion they tend to only sleep for an hour or two before needing to be up to at least clean up.

So he was utterly unsurprised when he felt the monitoring charm on her tell him that she was stirring.

He hopped off the bookshelf carelessly dropping the not-insignificant height to the ground, leaving the book up there carelessly. Dobby would get it at some point. Besides, if he were to put it back in the wrong place, then Dobby would just scold him later. The damned little wannabe gnome was worse sometimes than Hermione when it came to organization and messes.

He made his way back to the section of the cavernous warehouse to where Dobby had placed the beds. He crossed his arms and leaned against one wall in the sectioned off room. He had nearly timed it perfectly; Ahsoka had just groaned and put a hand to her head.

She pushed herself up in bed and looked around blinking the remnants of exhausted slumber out of her eyes.

"I wondered if you'd be up, sleepy head. I had Dobby set a glass of water on the stand next to you," Harry said in a quiet voice.

Hysterical breakdowns were dehydrating after all.

His tone was amused, and she stiffened up and shot a look his way. His brow furrowed slightly as he could feel embarrassment from the girl. It wasn't that the embarrassment bothered him.

It was that he could feel it so clearly.

Ahsoka had been making huge strides on her occlumency She was getting harder and harder to sense, where before her thoughts had practically shouted to him across a room. He hadn't wanted to tell her that her progress in that arena was nothing short of astonishing. On Earth it took even disciplined and experienced wizards years of practice to get to the point she got to in only a few days.

Well... years of practice, or months of being mind raped on a regular basis.

He was forced to concede that it was possible that the Jedi indoctrination… or training, was at least good for something. However, now he could read her as clear as day again with minimal concentration.

Of course it only took him a moment of closing his eyes to confirm that he wasn't sensing her through legilimency, even passively. He was sensitive enough to his own magic to know that whatever bond he had apparently enacted by acknowledging her as his apprentice was the cause.

His gaze met her blue eyes and he found her staring at him with a puzzled frown on her face.

The glass she had picked up and downed about half of was held up frozen at a slight tilt as she looked at him over its rim.

"You're… nervous. Why are you nervous?" she blurted out. Though it was a statement, her tone was full of questioning. She had no idea _how_ she was sensing that. She couldn't help asking quietly, as much Harry as herself, "How… do I know that?"

She was not empathic. She only occasionally got senses from people, but that was far more Aayla's area. She was a known empath.

More, she had never sensed _anything_ from Harry's emotions. Ever. She had never seen Harry so much as appear nervous. He was the exact opposite, confident, in control. The nervousness was more than a little disconcerting.

Harry's expression was thoughtful as he considered her statement. "Well, I wouldn't say nervous. More concerned really," he said. Harry saw no reason not to be honest with Ahsoka especially as he was relatively uncertain regarding this whole thing as well.

"Why?" Ahsoka repeated, gathering some measure of relief from Harry's calm and matter-of-fact tone.

Harry tilted his head, "We'll come back to that in a minute."

When her expression turned suspicious he nodded reassuringly, "Promise."

She relaxed slightly though still looked at him curiously as she finished her drink.

"How're you feeling?" Harry asked pushing off the wall to stand straight and stepping into the room fully.

"I'm-" She started to reply and then stopped herself from her standard knee jerk reaction to the question of "fine."

Harry nodded slightly, he recognized yet another mannerism that he shared with the young woman. Even around people he trusted, for years he was always 'fine' even when he wasn't.

The fact that she stopped and considered what she was going to say spoke volumes about her maturity, self awareness and her trust of Harry.

"I'm… better… I think," Ahsoka ventured uncertainly, "But now I'm… worried."

Harry nodded slightly inviting her to go on as he moved to take a seat on the edge of the bed, with a few feet of distance between them.

"On one hand I feel like there's a weight that's been lifted off my chest," Ahsoka commented and then shot Harry a suspicious look, expecting him to make some sort of comment about her chest. But he didn't, he was just listening attentively to her.

She wasn't sure if she was more pleased or disappointed by the lack of comment. She was definitely pleased that he was taking her seriously and disappointed that he didn't see fit to even make a comment about her chest. She knew she wasn't as busty as the Zeltron or Aayla, but didn't think herself unattractive.

"On the other hand," she continued after a bit of a pause. "I really did destroy part of a room. I'm… really _really _sorry about that by the way," she added sheepishly.

"Don't be sorry. Dobby probably has it mostly sorted anyway. He is well used to things blowing up or getting destroyed around me," Harry replied with an easy shrug.

She looked up and met his eyes, he could see the blue eyes filled with concern, "I lashed out in anger and I think I nearly hurt Aayla and Master Ti."

Harry nodded slightly, "Not to go all stereotypical shrink on you, but how and what does that make you feel?

Once more Ahsoka chewed on her bottom lip as she considered the question, "Like I mentioned before. On one hand it sort of feels like a burden has been lifted. But I also feel guilty for my actions. I am… _was_… a Jedi. I should be better than that."

"Better than what?" Harry challenged, lifting one leg on the bed and bracing lacing his fingers together over his knee.

"Better than to… to lose control like that," Ahsoka responded gesturing vaguely in the direction of the room she had nearly decimated.

"And here's where we come back to some of my core issues with the Order," Harry replied. His tone was firm, though didn't seem to have accusation in it.

"What do you mean?" Ahsoka asked with a confused frown on her face.

"I meant exactly what I said. The Jedi believe themselves better than everyone else," Harry stated plainly, his voice matter of fact so as not to be deliberately offense. He wasn't trying to irritate Ahsoka in the moment as he had been when he had usually been speaking to Jedi in the past two weeks.

Ahsoka opened her mouth to retort instantly, but stopped herself and looked at Harry and simply waited for an explanation.

A pleased smile ghosted over Harry's lips before he nodded in approval and pointed at her, "That statement right there, 'You are a Jedi' and 'You should be better than that.' You're essentially saying that you're better than any sentient being out there."

"That's not what I'm saying," Ahsoka said her brow furrowing.

"Except it kinda is," Harry responded immediately, "That may be as important as anything else I teach you. Look. All sentient beings have emotions and feelings. Anger, Joy, Fear, Courage, Hate, Hope, Love, Lust, Confidence, Embarrassment."

"Whatever names you might come up with, everyone feels them," Harry gestured at her, "Jedi feel them whether they want to admit it or not. By claiming that they don't, that they're _better_ than those emotions, they're saying that they're better than all sentient beings who do feel them."

"It's not about 'feeling' them. It's about controlling oneself in spite of them. Not all sentient beings destroy a room when they're angry," Ahsoka retorted.

"No, they don't," Harry conceded, "Most generally have grown up accepting these feelings and have adapted other outlets for their anger and frustrations. Having an outlet is important. Always closing your eyes and forcing yourself not to react. Forever pretending like it isn't getting to you… and that it _never_ gets to you, that's just not healthy."

"So how often do you need to explode rooms to be healthy?" Ahsoka asked sarcastically

Harry chuckled a little bit, "It's not always exploding a room. I wasn't kidding when I said I did the same thing to my old Headmaster's Office. For nearly the same reasons even," Harry responded, taking the question seriously despite her sarcastic tone.

"But two years before I blew up the old man's office, I actually blew up my uncle's sister after she implied my father was a drunk and my mother a whore, and that was the reason they were dead," At Ahsoka's horrified expression, Harry couldn't help but snort in amusement while rapidly shaking his head, "No no, not like… _exploded_, boom. I mean… blew up in the literal sense. She inflated like a balloon and floated off into the sky like she'd been filled with helium,"

Harry chuckled, "She even had the squeaky voice. But then again that was normal for when she got upset. She always got screechy."

"It was honestly not as big a deal as it sounds. It took a couple of ministry employees tracked her down and deflated her, a few memory charms, and she was fine. Well.. as fine as a disgustingly obese gossip monger with an unhealthy fixation on her dog could be," Harry added.

Ahsoka's expression of horror had gradually turned to relief, and even some humor by the time he had finished clarifying the memory.

"Really… I think the whole exploding of a room happened three other times and each was caused by a specific event," Harry said as he looked thoughtful searching through his memories.

"What do you mean?" Ahsoka asked, sitting up more fully and crossing her legs comfortably on the bed facing Harry.

"Oh… specific things that set me off. Once it was because some nascent Dark Lord had decided it would be a good idea to abduct two of my grandchildren when they were just toddlers," Harry said his eyes narrowing slightly.

"Grand children…?" Ahsoka's eyes widened and she tilted her head trying to put together the person in front of her with the idea of having grandchildren. Then the rest of what he said had sunk in.

"A Dark Lord? He didn't…" she trailed off with a hitched breath.

"No. _She_ didn't hurt them. Or anyone else when I was through with her and her minions," Harry said with a hint of steel in his voice, "Another time was a few years later, after I found that one of those same grand children had been killed by a dark wizard as an innocent bystander when they'd attacked a muggle museum looking for a magical artifact."

Harry's eyes met hers, "My… reaction and actions immediately following those two events tended to make it clear that targeting or injuring my family was pretty much the surest way for any wannabe Dark Lords and their minions to commit suicide,"

Ahsoka paused and examined Harry carefully. She could actually _feel_ that he was being completely honest with her, through whatever way she was sensing him. Otherwise she would have been seriously questioning his claim on having grandchildren.

But she could also sense the undercurrent of sadness that accompanied him when he talked about it. Normally she would have pressed for answers. pelted him with questions about it. But at the moment, she sensed that's not what he needed or wanted. Nor was his actual age versus his apparent age all that important in this particular conversation. "And the third time?"

"Third time?" Harry echoed with a curious tilt of his head.

"Yeah you said three other times, what was the third one?" She asked.

"Oh, it was after I figured out the answer to something I was looking for a long time. Coming to the realization that the answer was under my very nose the entire time, only to realize it too late," he said honestly. There was more than a little bit of bitterness in Harry's tone.

"So… you've only been angry… five times?" She asked as she turned over what Harry was telling her, counting the time he blew up his aunt, and mentioned blowing up his headmaster's office.

"Oh fuck no. I get angry all the time," Harry snorted in response, amusement in his tone and nearly overwhelming her as the emotions he felt assaulted her in confirmation of his outward expressions.

"What?" Ahsoka stared at him with a hint of trepidation, though she could feel amusement from him. She also thought she heard two sounds like quick indrawn breaths but was distracted by Harry's immediate response.

"Sure, I was angry when I found those women... children really, taken as slaves. I was angry about the slaver attack on Kashyyyk. I was angry when the bounty hunters tried to take you or when they shot the bartender lady. I was irritated when Blue tried to lie to us," Harry gestured around, but his tone was lighthearted and open..

"I get mad when Dobby takes initiative to 'help' me out. Because then I never know when I am going to have to clean up some mess he has made… or… when I am going to end up being worshipped as deity by some obscure religious order," Harry said.

Ahsoka snorted in amusement.

"Not joking. That happened," Harry said with a shake of his head. "Twice."

There was a moment's pause, "That I know of," he added with a frown.

"But I get mad about it. I get mad when my potions don't come out right. I get mad when I follow up on a lead for something and come up with nothing," He chuckled softly, "Hell, I get mad when I stub my toe getting out of bed in the morning,"

"I get mad at lots of things Miss Tano. But not usually mad enough to blow up a room," He clarified slightly.

"That's a lot of anger," Ahsoka said quietly.

"It is, but only if I let it build. When I let it go or channel it into productivity then it's not destructive," Harry responded

"The Sith channel their anger. That's where they get most of their power," Ahsoka's voice was cautious, what Harry was saying now did seem like something Sith would say. But it was a caution looking for more explanation. She wasn't going to just go with what he said without question.

Harry frowned and ran a hand over his chin, "Fair point. I should clarify. I'm not saying always 'channel' your anger. Think of it more as a spark. Then use the same energy and effort required to sustain it. Don't waste time being angry. You get angry. Accept it. Find an outlet for it. Hopefully also deal with what made you angry and move on,"

Ahsoka looked like she was turning it over in her mind. "How do you deal with it?"

"Each _healthy _person is different and deals with it in different ways," Harry explained with a shrug, "Running, beating the stuffing out of inanimate objects, screaming and crying, playing a musical instrument, talking it out with someone, working on something artistic or mechanical, getting a hobby, writing things down in a journal, having angry sex. There are innumerable different ways."

Ahsoka regarded him levelly, though her tone had more than a hint of sarcasm in it, "Let me guess which one you recommend and prefer."

"You'd be surprised," Harry laughed in amusement, eyes twinkling before his expression sobered, "But my point is there are lots of ways to do it. But ignoring it and hoping it goes away? Perfect recipe for rage issues later in life."

Ahsoka stroked her lekku as she considered Harry's statement, turning it over in her mind. It was slower than normal because she had to compare her thoughts with her emotions and how she both thought and felt about Harry's words.

"Not to muddy it for you, but there's also two different type of anger," Harry interjected after the silence had lingered for a minute or two. Ahsoka's head lifted sharply at that statement, and a worried look crossed her face.

Harry nodded slightly and explained, "There's hatred, which is the desire to hurt, to punish, and righteous anger which is anger toward a perceived wrong. I mention it because you displayed both in your little eruption earlier." He didn't want to harp on this but he also wanted to make sure Ahsoka understood. She had spent so long being indoctrinated by the Order he wasn't sure she could recognize the difference.

"You lashed out at both the Order and at what's-her-face… Shaak Ti, specifically. The Order as a whole wronged you," Harry explained and then paused before continuing, "Of course, in my opinion, they did for years. But that's neither here nor there,"

"But what they did to you in the events around that trial was unjust. It was _wrong_. Being angry about that, having the desire to see that same injustice never happen to anyone again. To prevent it. That is righteous anger." Harry explained, and could see that he had Ahsoka's attention as she was hanging on every word.

"Shaak Ti made her decision, and yes, that makes her part of the larger problem until she learns," Harry stated and then held up his hand to stave off any reply. "Yes she's wrong. And she may never learn. I'm well aware of this. Though she has at least displayed a little bit of independent thought."

Harry paused as he considered how best to explain it before nodding, "Let me ask you this though. Do you believe that Shaak Ti _intended_ to hurt you? Or acted as she did for selfish reasons?"

Ahsoka considered that before shaking her head slowly, "No, she certainly didn't condemn me personally like some of the others. Nor did she speak out against me… at least as far as I know."

Harry bobbed his head at her statement, "Then she wasn't acting out of malicious intent. Ignorance, yes. Blindness, definitely. Stupidity, maybe yes, maybe no. Maliciousness, not so much."

Ahsoka snorted and smiled a bit at the casual and blunt insults. Though it was clear from her expression that she still didn't seem to understand what Harry was explaining, and Harry could see that.

"Given the hololog Aayla shared, and her own actions, she's trying to learn. You can give her the cold shoulder, not talk to her, ignore her," Harry said with a little bit of a smile, "Heck she might even deserve a good pranking… I don't know… I'll teach you how to use a sticking charm to stick her montrals to her forehead or something."

"But wanting to hurt her specifically, wanting her to suffer… that's what crosses the line to hate," Harry said grimly, "And wallowing in that is the sort of thing you want to avoid,"

Ahsoka looked at him. The question clear on her face without putting it into words.

"You've mentioned before that the hatred leads to the Dark Side of the Force, which you were taught was the easy path," Harry said, and she nodded in agreement, knowing that had come up in their discussions on the ship.

"And in a way you're right," Harry admitted with a very sad smile, "It's so bloody _easy_ to hate. The problem is… when it's hate, it's almost always directed at the wrong things."

"You say that like you've experienced it," She said quietly, her voice curious without accusation.

"For the longest time, I hated a lot of people. I hated most of our magical society," Harry replied quietly.

"Oh?" Ahsoka leaned forward, crossing her legs, interest clear on her expression.

This was Harry talking about himself, something that he hadn't shared much of so hearing it was definitely a step for her.

Harry nodded a little bit. He considered stopping there, but realized that he should share as much as necessary to get the point across, "I felt righteous anger at the first Dark Lord I defeated. He killed my parents, my parents friends, and friends of mine. I felt that same anger at his minions... Death Eaters, he called them. They were about as unpleasant as their names suggested. The same went for the other wizards that had joined him."

"But… I _hated_ the people that stood by. I hated the majority my parent's generation, for allowing this evil to fester. For allowing the rot to infect our world. For standing by and being perfectly happy requiring the sacrifice of my generation, no more than children at the time, to stop it," Harry was looking toward Ahsoka as he spoke but his eyes had a faraway look in them as he remembered.

"The people who one day praised me as a hero, then hated me thinking me a delusional liar when I warned them the Dark Lord was back. Then remaining silent as I became wizarding most wanted when the Dark Lord took over and then once more praising me when I finally killed the bastard for good,"

Ahsoka was listening with rapt attention as Harry spoke. The passion and emotion was easy to hear in his voice.

"It took me awhile…" Harry smiled genuinely for a moment in remembrance, "And I didn't do it alone. Daphne actually was the one to finally make me understand."

"The people I hated weren't worth poisoning myself with that hate. They didn't deserve to be considered important enough to make me bring myself down like that"

"In a way they didn't deserve my hatred. My disdain? Sure. But Daphne reminded me that the people who didn't stand up were fathers and mothers and husbands, and wives and aunts and uncles and brothers and sisters." Harry explained quietly.

"Whoa. Déjà vu," Harry realized and then smiled wryly.

"What?" Ahsoka asked with a tilt of her head.

"I just had a similar conversation with the two Jedi Masters earlier. They asked me If I supported the Separatists," Harry responded with a chuckle at how eerily similar the lines of thought were.

"What did you say?" Ahsoka asked, honestly curiously.

"I explained to them that most people who weren't directly involved in the conflict or politics. didn't care. And they don't. They're just like the people I hated," Harry explained. "They were people who were concerned about their families. People who just wanted to live their lives in peace and for those they cared about to do the same. Just like any others. Getting involved in a war could end up with them dead, or worse painting targets on their family. In their defense, they were absolutely right."

"The war did make families targets. My best friend's family were attacked at home, and in the end lost several family members to the Dark Lord," Harry said, his brow furrowing, "I don't like it. But I can't hate people for trying to do what they think protects their families most. I can't hate someone for not seeing the big picture."

"The big picture," Ahsoka echoed, the question evident in her voice.

"'All it takes for evil to flourish is for good people to stand aside and do nothing.' A quote from my world. Too many people think that one individual can't make a difference. Often they may be right. But if a whole bunch of individuals try, then pretty soon you have an army ready to stand up and say, enough is enough." Harry said, passion filling his voice.

"The people that don't, think they're protecting their family by being there with their families rather than fighting a war. They're only seeing their immediate concern. They don't see the big picture; that by not fighting by allowing evil to take over without a fight they're just making the world their child ends up in, and eventually inherits is worse off."

"In the end, I realized that I didn't hate them. I _pitied_ them." Harry said with a sigh.

Once more a wistful smile crossed Harry's face, "That was one of Daphne and my longest running arguments actually. She always said the magical world never learned and I kept bailing them out from rising Dark Lords. She told me I should let them learn their lesson. But… I could never force children to pay for the mistakes of their parents. My generation did that, and I didn't want that for any other group of children."

Ahsoka was listening attentively. Her focus on Harry as she processed the most he had said about himself since she had met him. nodded slowly, "I… understand… I think,"

Harry shook his head, "No, you don't. Not yet, not entirely. But I'm sure you'll probably get there,"

Ahsoka nodded solemnly at Harry's serious response and then regarded him silently and shrewdly for several moments before asking bluntly, "So are you going to tell me what you were all nervous about?"

She knew he wasn't nervous about facing her that she might hurt him. Not after he had walked into the chaos of the whirlwind the way he had risking life and limb.

Harry regarded her thoughtfully and slid his other leg onto the bed, crossing his legs and resting his elbows on his knees. He interlaced his fingers and rested his chin on his hands as he regarded Ahsoka intently, unsure about what to explain. Or how to start.

Then a thought occurred to him and a slow smile emerged on his face

"Are you still set on wanting me to test your mental defenses?" Harry asked slowly.

"Yes," Ahsoka nodded as she responded immediately. She had been reliving and sorting memories nearly nonstop. Protection from having her mind manipulated, as well as being able to hide her Force presence, was a huge motivating factor.

"Even though I could see things that are intensely private even if they're embarrassing or personal?" Harry asked, a hint of warning in his voice, "That experience can be intimidating or scary the first time, especially if you don't trust the person utterly."

He could tell by the stubborn lift of her chin what her response was going to be but he had to try anyway.

"I'm not afraid," She said, her voice strong and not quivering in the slightest.

"You should be," Harry replied gravely.

After a pause he continued, "With this skill, when I'm in your mind, when I get through your defenses, I could see any secret you've ever had, any private moment, any personal thought or emotion. I'm skilled enough that with enough time I could change your personality, or I could just erase your entire being."

Harry kept his voice level but there was a hard edge in it as he stared into Ahsoka's eyes.

Ahsoka met his eyes just as seriously and she didn't flinch. "You probably could. But if you wanted me dead, you could have let the bounty hunters do it for you. And if you wanted information or to change me you could have strapped me down and attempted it."

"What you just said scares me. But what I'm afraid of is someone else being able to do it to me," Her eyes stayed locked on his as she admitted what no Jedi ever was supposed to. Fear, "I'm afraid of someone who wouldn't hesitate. There have been cases of that in the Jedi Order, cases I know personally. They were never the exact same after."

Her mind briefly flitted to Aayla and what had happened to the Twi'lek years earlier, but she wasn't the only one who had their mind warmed and assaulted by those who misused the Force.

"But I don't want anyone else being able to do that to me. I trust _you_. If you're really able to see into my mind, and help others from doing to me what you _could_ do then it's absolutely worth it," She stated defiantly while she lifted her chin to look into his eyes.

She made no attempt to hide her feelings or emotions. She no longer trusted the Jedi Council. She was aware of the Council's history and knew they had sentenced people to the Death of Personality before. Wiping their memories and every bit of who they were. This promised protection from that, and while she didn't think they'd attempt to force her back there to try that, she also couldn't completely discount it any more either. After all, she never expected to be betrayed by a friend and fellow Jedi or expelled from the Order either.

"Maybe saying I'm not afraid isn't accurate. Maybe I need to be more precise, I'm not afraid of _you_," She clarified softly, "And maybe if we do this you'll understand that. Then you'll tell me what has you concerned now,"

Harry was silent for over a minute as he regarded Ahsoka's expression. She met his silence with a determined look of her own.

"Alright," he finally nodded, and he found himself oddly pleased by her declaration though he put on an obviously exaggerated faux hurt expression, "But you should be afraid of me! I can be really scary!"

Ahsoka rolled her eyes at his antics, a smile breaking across her face especially after the serious conversation they just had.

"No really! I can be!" Harry protested. He put up his hands next to his head and curled his fingers to look like claws, "RAWR! Rawr… rawr! See… Scary! You should be afraid."

His earnest nod just added to the ridiculousness.

"Harry… I've known you for two weeks. Thus far, the only thing you've made me truly fear for… is my virtue..." Ahsoka snorted sarcastically as she rolled her eyes. "And with that face you're making, that's in no danger."

Harry, who was still making a growly face and had his hands up in claws froze and stared at her for several moment before breaking out into a full belly laugh. His hands fell to his sides as he curled up slightly from the laughter.

His laugh caused Ahsoka to break out in giggles of her own. It was almost half a minute later when their laughter eased. However, Harry had a wide grin on his face when he spoke, "You are learning fast, my Apprentice,"

She grinned and responded cheekily, "I have to keep up don't I, _Master_?"

"You don't seem to be having a problem with that," he finally allowed, a gentle smile still on his face. A few moments later, his expression turned serious once more, "Are you ready?"

When Ahsoka nodded, Harry didn't say anything, just locked onto her eyes and dived into her mind without a word and without moving a muscle.

Ahsoka stared at him, expecting him to do something. But he just met her eyes and didn't move.

She almost opened her mouth to see if he had slipped into one of his zone outs when suddenly her vision went black.

She was completely unaware as two other presences that had heard the bulk of their conversation waited as silence fell.

Harry was well aware they were there, he just didn't particularly care.

He certainly didn't think they'd attack him while he was out of his body. And if they did, well… Dobby would be mightily offended. That usually meant bad things.

**ooOoOooOOooOoOoo**

Ahsoka gasped and stumbled as she tried to find her footing. One moment she was sitting on a bed facing Harry and the next she was suddenly standing. It was sort of like being apparated, without the sensation of being sucked through a straw. It was just as disorienting to her senses though, especially as her montrals completely failed to provide her any information on what surrounded her.

She regained her balance and looked around, her eyes widened in surprise. It was like she was back on Coruscant in the very familiar skyline.

Harry was standing there next to her with his arms crossed as he looked around, a curious expression on his face.

Ahsoka took a breath and looked up at the Jedi Temple as it rose in front of her. She realized exactly where they were.

"We're in my head," She stated needlessly.

"Your mind," Harry corrected, "Though for the moment it amounts to the same thing."

At her inquiring look, Harry explained. "This is both your mind and your head. Though right now my mind is in yours, and my head is still out there." He gestured vaguely above their heads before he looked around at the familiar skyline while she processed that.

"I guess I can't be surprised that you used the Jedi Temple as your safe space in your own mind," he mused thoughtfully.

Ahsoka looked down as a blush filled her cheeks. She couldn't detect disapproval in his voice but she felt embarrassed and explained, "You said to create a place I knew really well. It's… really the only place I know really well and was my home… even after what happened."

Harry set his hand gently on her shoulder and squeezed reassuringly, "Hey, it's just a place that you're familiar with. I can totally relate to using a place that once felt like home but in the end also held a lot of bad memories,"

Ahsoka smiled a little bit and looked up at him. She not only heard the words and felt his hand on her shoulder but also felt the genuine emotion behind the words.

"I have to admit, this is pretty damn detailed. You've come a long way in a very short amount of time. I'm not sure I've met anyone who picked this up faster than you have," Harry's voice had clear admiration in it, that he made no attempt to hide. He knew that even if he had received _competent_ instruction from the start that he never would have gotten this far so quickly. But it was also a testament to how much focus Ahsoka had been putting into her mind in the two weeks since they'd met.

"I've been working pretty hard on it," Ahsoka admitted. Truth be told she had been spending pretty much every spare moment working on it.

Harry nodded slowly and chuckled, "I can tell. This is mastery level detail,"

Ahsoka blushed at the obvious praise and smiled but didn't reply, looking around at the skyline. It was one thing to picture it in her mind, it was another thing to actually seem to be standing there looking up at it.

"Are you still sure you want me to try and figure out how well defended it is?" Harry asked, "I can't quite be completely gentle and do so…"

Ahsoka swallowed and nodded, "If it's not going to work or I did something wrong, I'd rather know from you than from someone else."

"Okay, Then I'm going to go looking for your worst memories," Harry said. His voice solemn.

When Ahsoka nodded once more, Harry immediately disappeared without sound.

Ahsoka looked around wildly for him.

Then a look of surprise crossed her face. She could _feel_ him inside of her mental construction of the Jedi Temple. As if her thought took her there Ahsoka found herself suddenly inside.

She found herself inside one of the dueling rooms. The area felt somewhat odd to her without anyone there. Usually within the temple there were people practicing and training all times of the day. The detail was down to every stone and mat laid down and against walls for enthusiastic or beginning duelers.

She looked around wildly and felt rather than saw Harry's presence leaving the area. Clearly he was searching the Temple as he promised.

She once more tried to follow him only to end up at the top of the temple in the High Council meeting room, once more it was empty without any sight of him. He had already left the area.

She took a moment to concentrate as she tried to sense where he was once more. It only took her a moment to figure out where she was this time and she had a quick indrawn breath.

Harry was already in the Jedi Archives.

She suddenly appeared there and saw him sitting in a chair in front of a monitor.

She felt a sinking sensation in her stomach as Harry touched the screen of the monitor, as she would have accessed any file in the Jedi temple. She opened her mouth to call out in protest and once more felt herself being sucked to someplace else.

Suddenly she was in a completely different area. This was much darker than the brightly lit archives. It only took a moment for a gasp to escape as she recognized exactly where she was.

Ahsoka's hand went to her mouth as she looked around. It was the Chamber of Judgment precisely as she remembered it.

Only...

This time she was seeing herself standing on the raised platform and looking up at the Masters surrounding her with a pleading look frozen on her face.

Ahsoka realized that she was standing on empty air as she looked around.

Above her on raised chairs sat the members of the Jedi High Council all frozen in this moment in time. Below her she could see Anakin glaring up at the Jedi Masters who were looking down at her.

Her eyes went to the expression of her own memory and tears welled up in her eyes as she saw the hope there that she knew was soon to be dashed. She vividly recalled the desperation she felt in that moment, and could feel it rising up inside her again.

Suddenly she felt a pair of warm arms enfold her from behind, and she felt Harry's presence surround her. She only held out for a moment before she slumped backward into the comforting embrace.

Harry's gentle voice came filled the silent, unmoving view in front of her.

"Where are we? This isn't the trial that I caught a few clips of on the holonet," Harry's voice was curious without being pressuring.

"This is a Jedi trial… this is where they threw me out of the Order. This is where none of them believed me," Ahsoka's voice was sad, but she was surprised to find herself feeling less bitter than she had a few hours earlier.

There was a pause and Harry just held her, she felt no urge to pull away, almost relieved that he made no move to do so. "Can you tell me who I'm looking at?"

After a moment's hesitation she nodded and then gestured with one hand beneath them at Anakin's frozen face. "That's my old master, Anakin Skywalker. I usually called him Sky-Guy. He was… the only one to believe in me, and the only one to support me,"

Harry looked down and saw a surprisingly young man, probably no more than 25 or 27. He tilted his head as he looked down into Anakin's frozen expression. He wasn't sure why but the expression and features almost... seemed familiar somehow.

He was also somewhat intrigued by the expression on Anakin's face, it set off some warning bells in his head. Though he knew it could just be the point of the memory or the intensity of the moment.

She allowed her head to look up at the Masters hovering above them. She gestured to the one wearing a breathing mask and covers over his eyes, "That one is Plo Koon, he is the Jedi that found me. He always called me Little Soka. But apparently his devotion to justice supersedes knowing me from the time I was a little girl."

She moved counterclockwise and gestured at the next one, "That is Master Yoda, he's the Grand Master of the Jedi Order and has been for several hundred years. He's the most powerful and experienced Jedi Master alive."

"Huh…" Harry observed, "He looks like a distant relative of Dobby,"

Ahsoka blinked and then despite the darkness of this memory actually giggled a little bit.

"Oh my… he totally does," Ahsoka said as her shoulders shook in mirth, "I will never be able to look at him again without thinking that!" She couldn't see it, but she could feel Harry's amusement from behind her.

She shook her head and moved on, "That's Master Windu. His connection and understanding of the Force is nearly on par with Yoda's. He might even be better with a lightsaber."

"He looks like a friendly fellow," Harry opined dryly as he looked at the man's utterly impassive face.

"And you've already met Master Ki-Adi-Mundi," Ahsoka said with a gesture toward the Master with the elongated forehead, ignoring his comment.

"Ah yes. Conehead and I are practically best buddies now," Harry replied, snickering a bit, "You saw, I even gave him some pretty sound medical advice."

"Then you have Master Kenobi. He was Anakin's old Master," Ahsoka explained, "I thought if anyone would believe me he would, but he certainly didn't seem to speak up for me."

"Hmm," Harry hummed noncommittally as he examined the bearded human.

"And… well you've already met Master Shaak Ti," Ahsoka said with a bit of a sigh in her voice as she gestured with her chin toward the frozen woman.

She was surprised to find that Harry seemed to be right after their talk. She didn't feel the anger inside of her well up at her fellow Togruta. Instead she just felt disappointment, pity and some disgust. She wasn't sure if she'd feel the same way toward the other Masters until or if she ever ran into them face to face again.

"It's a start," Harry murmured sensing her thoughts, though he didn't expand on his comment as he looked around the room.

After an extended pause he asked quietly, "Will you let me watch the memory with you?"

Ahsoka hesitated, "I thought you were going to go looking through my memories,"

"I said I would probably try and find them and that I might see them, but- given that the memory isn't playing. I didn't want to go through them without your permission if I did find any of them," Harry replied. "My control is good enough that I can usually keep myself from seeing something unless you actually give me permission to see it after I've run across it."

He had expected it to go the minute it was accessed, the fact that it hadn't was incredibly impressive. He didn't tell her that it was a sign of just how much control of her mind she was already exerting that the memory didn't automatically start. He knew he could have forced the memory to start if he wanted, but Harry wasn't going to rampage hurtfully through her mind just to do so.

Ahsoka hesitated a moment before she nodded, "Okay," As if her permission had been the starting gun, the memory immediately began to move.

"Padawan Tano, against you serious charges have been levied," Master Yoda began to speak, his voice stern, "How plead you?"

Ahsoka watched her memory self begin to speak, "Not guilty, Master. I would never take the lives of innocents. The values of the Jedi are sacred to me."

"There is evidence to the contrary. You were alone with Letta Turmond when she died. Can you explain this?" Master Ki-Adi-Mundi spoke up, more than a little doubt in his voice. Harry's arms tightened around Ahsoka infinitesimally, at the condescension in his voice.

"Someone used the Force against her," Memory Ahsoka replied quickly, confusion in her voice. She hadn't understood either.

"Which brings us to Ventress. Can you explain your association with her?" Plo Koon's voice had a mechanical tone to it as it was filtered through his breather. Ahsoka caught the slight flinch on her memory-self's face at the doubt and disbelief there.

"We had a mutual understanding," Memory Ahsoka said hesitantly, "I _thought_ she was helping me."

Mace Windu spoke up, his voice deep and challenging. It fell just short of being accusatory, "Did you she help you acquire the nano-droid weaponry found when you were apprehended, the same devices used in the bombing of the Temple?"

Memory Ahsoka's voice was sharp and defiant, pleading for understanding, "No, I was set up and deceived, as you are being deceived now!"

"The question is, Padawan Tano, who is deceiving us?" Mace Windu retorted, "Ventress, you, or someone else?"

"I am not deceiving you!" Ahsoka protested immediately, "I would assume Ventress is,.. but I can't be sure. My sense is clouded." Her voice turned hesitant as she looked down.

"Clouded by the Dark Side these things are, Padawan Tano," Yoda said slowly, "Dangerously clouded, but not just surrounding you, surrounding many things in these times."

"You've already made your decision, haven't you? This meeting is just a formality!" Anakin's irate voice lifted up in protest interjecting himself into the hearing.

"Reached a decision, we have, though not in total agreement are we," Yoda answered in a tired voice. He didn't even seem to acknowledge Skywalker, though he responded to the man's protest, nor did any of the other Masters spared Anakin a look, save for Obi-Wan and it was the merest glance.

"It is the Council's opinion that Padawan Ahsoka Tano has committed sedition against the Republic, and thus, she will be expelled from the Jedi Order," His voice too seemed to carry no reluctance just firmness in their decision.

"You can't do this!" Anakin protested loudly from below.

"Your Padawan status will be stripped from you, and you shall forfeit all rank and privileges within the Grand Army of the Republic," Ki-Adi-Mundi said, there was even a trace of smugness to his voice, whether it was in this action, in his ability to completely ignore the protest from Anakin, or if she was simply imagining it because of the circumstances; Ahsoka was uncertain.

She saw her memory self bow her head and her shoulders slump as tears welled in both of their eyes. She was grateful for Harry's strong presence as he squeezed her comfortingly from behind.

"You will be turned over to the Republic courts to await your trial and whatever punishment they will set for you," Ki-Adi-Mundi's voice continued, "Henceforth, you are barred from the Jedi Order."

Ahsoka watched as her memory self bowed her head. But she flinched when she watched one of the Jedi Guards reach up and jerk her padawan braid off. The memory froze there and she felt Harry's arms as they tightened about her gently.

"They pretty much did everything they could to railroad you. Your old Master was right. The meeting was just a formality. There was obviously no discussion or consideration after you pleaded your case. No presentation of evidence or discussion of your testimony. Nothing you were going to say was going to change the outcome of that... farce." Harry's voice was gentle as he squeezed her reassuringly.

Harry held her for another few moments before he released her from his hold, and Ahsoka felt herself missing the reassuring presence. She turned to look back at him and found him floating up higher looking at the different masters.

"Remind me, If I ever run into him again, that Conehead here really needs to be on the receiving end of a couple dozen pranks. I think I would be doing a public service if I teach him some of that humility Jedi always are preaching about," Harry mused as he examined the different Masters thoughtfully.

Ahsoka smiled a little bit. She appreciated Harry's presence in this memory. But then she scowled a little bit as a thought came to her.

"I thought that doing this would protect my mind? You weren't supposed to be able to get to my memories, wasn't that the point of the whole exercise in the first place?" Ahsoka asked him. Her tone was somewhat plaintive as she was disappointed at how easily he had found his way there.

Harry nodded, and floated back down by her away from his inspection of the Masters who remained frozen. "That's true. However I didn't go into some of the details because honestly, I didn't expect you to get this far so fast. Usually this sort of instruction takes years, requiring a guide for the set up after you organize your memories. So… this is phenomenal,"

Ahsoka practically beamed, as her cheeks blushed red from the praise.

"However," Harry added, his voice turned cautionary, "Your set up was relatively predictable,"

"What details didn't you go into then? Predictable how?" Ahsoka demanded, disappointment once more entering her voice.

"Well, you organized it… and created a whole world but you didn't really create defenses in your mind," Harry explained.

"Defenses? What do you mean by that?" Ahsoka asked, she had thought this world itself was the defense.

"Well... that really could be anything. Given your theme? I probably should have been required to be dodging bad ass ninja Jedi all over the place while they were trying to cut me into pieces with all sorts of colored lightsabers. Maybe walls that popped out turrets. Droids trying to barbecue me. Whatever defenses you can imagine. That is the only limit," Harry explained with a gesture all around them.

"And further you didn't define what I could do or not do in your mind," Harry added.

At Ahsoka's frown, he shrugged, "You didn't make any rules for your mind. I could walk through walls, fly, because you didn't stop me from doing any of that," Harry floated back up to level with the Jedi Master's as a demonstration.

"How do I stop you from doing that?" Ahsoka asked.

"It's your mind. You're in complete control here. Same principle as all magic," Harry explained as he gestured around still floating in the air in front of the memory of Ki-Adi-Mundi, "Exercise your will."

Ahsoka regarded Harry for a moment and then narrowed her eyes.

Harry tilted his head curiously and opened his mouth to ask a question when his eyes widened and he dropped from the air like a rock, letting out a distinctly unmanly half shriek in the process before he hit the ground.

Ahsoka didn't have time to enjoy that as she found herself falling as well though her drop was a few meters shorter and she landed on her feet.

"Oof!" Ahsoka landed, using her hands to help brace from the impact.

Harry on the other hand landed in a much less dignified heap and remained still for a moment.

"Oh gods, I'm sorry!" Ahsoka immediately blurted as she moved to check and see if Harry was injured.

Harry shook his head and pushed himself up with a grin, rubbing his side as he stood up, he started to laugh, "It's fine… just you insisting on being an overachiever. Just remember when creating rules you have to be careful and learn how to exempt yourself when you're in here like this."

"So that's all I need to do to keep people from flying?" Ahsoka asked somewhat smugly.

Harry raised an eyebrow and then she watched as he floated off the ground and into the air.

She frowned and scowled at him, trying to focus and repeat the effect from earlier. She tried to prevent him from flying, but he continued to float there. "How are you able to do that? You shouldn't be able to fly now…"

"Exercise of will. In this case my application of will against your control of the environment. I just wasn't prepared earlier," Harry's voice was kind but his expression was serious, "You have utmost control in your mind. But don't ever assume that you are all powerful, even in your own head."

"And I'm _really_ good at this," He added as he stretched in the air, "Anyway like I said, aside from your defenses, your other issue is predictability."

"How so?" Ahsoka asked, while mentally trying to catalogue all sorts of defenses her temple could have.

"Well, you used the Jedi Temple, and stored your memories in the library. People who get skilled at this, seem to always start there, sticking their memories in the library," Harry lifted his shoulders and shrugged, "I'll grant, it's a very natural place to do so, organized, in the real world known to hold history and such."

"So, anyone would assume your memories are in a library. It's always one of the first places I tend to look. Instead, you should've placed your memories somewhere which would never stand out," Harry explained.

"Like where?" Ahsoka inquired with narrowed eyes.

"A secret room that doesn't actually exist in the real temple, with no standard way to gain access to other than direct teleportation, which you grant only to yourself," Harry gestured upward, "Or put them in airspeeders that fly in plain sight over the Temple like normal traffic does. Or in the kitchen, or the refresher stations. Trust me, even if someone does get into your mind, only the truly deranged would check the bathrooms."

"The point is to make it something a normal person would ignore while they pay attention to the big honking temple in front of them," Harry grinned.

"They'd waste their time infiltrating something complex and tedious while the real target was out in plain site or at least obscured. Security through multiple levels of obscurity. Not always the greatest strategy in real life, but can work really well when it comes to the mind," Harry said quietly.

"So I should get rid of the library?" Ahsoka asked assuming it was a rhetorical question.

"Why? Keep it as a decoy and put stuff in there that can't hurt you," Harry shrugged.

"Stuff that can't hurt me?" Ahsoka asked, "Like what?"

"Well, the library in my mind is filled with books that all look the same with slightly different colored covers," Harry snickered slightly, "Half of the books contain a rather vast collection of porn, made up of a combination of memories and my own demented imagination The other half contains Broadway show tunes."

"There is no way to tell which is which until they're opened. And let me tell you, either could be quite traumatizing," Harry nodded sagely.

At Ahsoka's distinctly unimpressed expression, Harry held up his hands, "To be fair, it was totally my wife Tonk's defense. I just copied the idea… though she had a way more demented imagination than I did."

"They stopped letting her teach the legilimency classes to Aurors when too many trainees broke down and refused to get certified after making it to her library. I think she may have caused two mental breakdowns, and I know at least one auror would start to cry whenever he heard orchestra music at the ministry balls."

Harry shook his head and held his hand out Ahsoka, "I think we've seen about enough of this memory. C'mon, let's get out of here. Then I'll take you into my mind and show you the memory of my own trial,"

Ahsoka didn't hesitate, taking his hand, a moment later finding herself back in her recreation of the Jedi archives.

Harry gestured around at the library filled only with data, "See? This place shouldn't be empty you should have minions and guards imagined all over the place,"

"Moving your memories to someplace else and adding defenses is the next part of your process, then after that it's all a matter of fine tuning," Harry chuckled, "Don't be surprised if that takes a little bit longer than what you've seen to this point. Don't be disappointed either. You're already destroying any learning curve I've ever heard of, and this is Mastery level stuff."

Ahsoka nodded, looking around, her head already filling with ideas. Almost as she came up with her ideas, the library began to fill with nondescript people sitting down at different stations or milling around, looking their way.

Harry looked around and then huffed good naturedly, "Um. Okay, or I could be wrong and you're just going to completely rewrite the record books in every way possible. Whatever,"

Ahsoka giggled a little bit at Harry's reaction "Well it's like you said, focus and will… and basically imagination,"

Harry nodded and grinned, very pleased with her embracing of the concepts he was relating to her. He was just stunned by the speed at which she was picking things up. "C'mon, let's head out of here. You've let me see one of your worst memories. I figured I would show you a memory of mine that is eerily similar,"

Ahsoka eagerly nodded, moving to walk beside him as they began to move toward the archive exit.

Harry nodded and looked around, "I should warn you though that the result was a little different, and things were a bit longer lasting than just… the… trial…"

Ahsoka stopped as she realized Harry had stopped and seemed to be staring at a section of wall.

His expression had gone from relaxed to intent as he stared at seemingly nothing.

"Harry?" She asked to get his attention. His brow had furrowed and his expression was replaced with anger.

"What's wrong?" She asked, she was able to feel his anger and could tell it was much deeper than what was reflected on his face

Harry was staring at the wall, but what had caught his eye was the fact that the wall seemed to shimmer and flicker. He recognized that effect for what it was in someone's mind, but he had to ask to be certain.

"What do you see here?" He asked his voice quiet as he gestured toward the wall in front of him.

Ahsoka furrowed her brow to stare at the section of wall he was pointing at, "Um… a wall?"

"Nothing out of the ordinary?" Harry clarified, just to be certain.

She shook her head, "No, why? What's wrong?"

"Let me show you what I see," Harry said, his voice still calm. He reached out and put two fingers right in the middle of her forehead.

Ahsoka felt a surge of the Force and felt it fill and center on her eyes. She gasped as she suddenly looked around. Everything seemed to take on a hue that was slightly glowing. The people in the archives glowed, the archives themselves, glowed different colors, even the furniture had a slight outline.

She looked around them slowly, her eyes taking things in. Her brow furrowed as she stared at the wall Harry was pointing at. He was right. The section of wall was darker than the area around it, but seemed to keep flickering.

"What is it?" She asked.

"Someone has been messing with your mind," Harry's voice was flat, "This looks like you've been obliviated at some point,"

"Obliviated?" Ahsoka asked. She remembered hearing Harry mention that term before but she didn't remember the specifics.

"Someone has hidden a memory or something from your own mind. Unlike a memory charm, they didn't attempt to put anything over it. It looks like your subconscious has stored it, though you have never accessed it,"

Harry explained his voice even, despite the anger he was feeling.

"What do we do about it?" Ahsoka asked.

"Unless you have serious objections, we break the obliviation," Harry stated firmly, "Even if it is something hugely traumatic, it's better to deal with it than leave it buried to pop up some other time,"

Ahsoka bit her lip for a moment at the idea of it being something traumatic and not knowing that it had happened but at the moment she was far more interested in finding out what was beneath it.

"They did a pretty good job of it too," Harry mused quietly. "Without someone like me in your head, I'm not sure it would have been noticed. I'm very curious as to who did it, since I would have said this was beyond the skills of any magic or 'Force' users I've seen or read about in your galaxy."

"How do we break the obliviation?" Ahsoka asked resolutely. She was uncertain of what he meant by 'in your galaxy' but was more focused on the idea of someone having mucked with her mind

Harry met her eyes for a moment, before nodding slightly. He didn't bother asking if she trusted him or if she was certain, he could read it in every line of her face, but he also felt her determination emanating through their bond and all around him.

He reached out his hand and pressed it against the wall. He used his magic and pushed against the wall in a firm thrust of legilimency given form in her mind.

Harry's eyebrows lifted in surprise when he felt the wall resist the not-inconsiderable power he put into it.

"Someone… with a great deal of power did not want you getting this memory," Harry murmured.

"Unfortunately for them, I'm better," He narrowed his eyes and this time poured a lot of magic into the focused area of wall around his hand. He pushed the magic to surround and break up the blockage.

He was surprised to feel the wall resisting his efforts gamely, but it's resistance only lasted a for a few moments before Harry's magic overwhelmed the blockage. The instant the wall crumbled they both were sucked into another memory.

They both found themselves standing on a solid cement floor. Behind them rose an ornate temple. At the top of the temple rested a large green glowing gem that seemed to pulse with energy. Above them the sky was filled with storm clouds. In front of them Ahsoka saw herself kneeling, though she was facing away from them in a rigid pose.

In front of her was a lone tree in the courtyard that seemed otherwise strangely barren

Harry looked to Ahsoka with a curious expression as her confusion remained for several moments before she stiffed with a hiss, "Mortis,"

That caused Harry to stiffen in turn and his expression turned to stone, "Death?"

She looked at him with confusion once more, "What?"

"You said Mortis… another word for death," Harry replied warily.

Ahsoka shook her head slowly, "Mortis is the name of the planet we are on. Or was rather… the entire planet disappeared,"

"Encouraging name for a planet," Harry murmured, before looking back to Ahsoka, "What do you remember happened here?"

"It's a long story," When Harry made it clear he was interested, Ahsoka explained briefly, "Force users representing different aspects, the dark side, the light side and balance were here. In the end they all destroyed one another," Her voice was sad.

"And what do you remember about what happened to you here?" Harry asked.

"I remember the Father, who was balance brought us here hoping that Anakin was 'the Chosen One'. He proved he could do it but refused to stay on the planet," Ahsoka scowled remembering. "The Son kidnapped me and attempted to turn me against my Master and to the dark side. Forced me to see visions of what would happen if I stayed with him."

Harry had narrowed his eyes at that slightly but kept his opinion to himself.

Ahsoka frowned and shook her head, "I don't… remember much after that. I remembering being bitten by an animal, and then nothing until I woke up. Master Skywalker told me that the Daughter, the aspect of the light side of the Force gave her life to save me,"

Harry bit his tongue tightly as she related more of the story.

"We left here to flee the planet. The Son tried to stop us and turned my Master to the Dark side temporarily. In the end the Father sacrificed himself to make his son mortal so that Anakin could stop him," Ahsoka said, her voice heavy as she thought about the tragedy.

She shook it off and looked around, "I… don't remember this though. At least not kneeling there like that..., I remember waking up here though..."

"Something tells me we're about to find out what happened while you were 'unconscious'," Harry said grimly.

She frowned and looked around with interest once more, wishing that the image wasn't frozen. The instant that she wished that, the memory started to move and they could feel wind move through the area. Above the storm clouds thundered ominously.

"Ahsoka!" Both of the visitors to the memory whirled around to face behind them as Anakin emerged from the shadows looking around cautiously for some unseen threat.

"Ahsoka, it's me," Anakin repeated, relief evident in his voice, "You're safe now. Let's go."

The memory Ahsoka barely seemed to acknowledge his words, she remained facing away from him for the moment. "Are you proud of me, master?" When she spoke, her voice had a bizarre sing song quality to it and she seemed to draw out each of the words.

Harry and Ahsoka's attention were now both firmly on the memory version of her.

"What?" Anakin seemed taken aback "Uh, of course, Snips,"

"Snips?" Harry echoed, sounding a little bit amused.

"A nickname Master Skywalker gave to me shortly after we met. He said I was snippy," Ahsoka replied shortly, almost absently as she watched things play out in front of her.

Harry would have replied in amusement but the scene continued in front of them.

"Of course I'm proud of you," Anakin reiterated, looking around once more, "Now, let's get out of here."

"He's right, right about everything," Memory Ahsoka lifted her head slowly as she stood up and turned to face them.

Ahsoka gasped as she stared at her memory self. Her skin was filled with dark lines, giving her a sickly look but it was the eyes that were most distinguished. Ahsoka's normally deep and vivid blue eyes were completely yellow.

Harry's face didn't reflect surprise as he examined her memory self closely.

"You must join him," Memory Ahsoka said decisively. Then her expression and pose shifted to a combination of coy and explaining, "He only wants what's best for the universe."

"Hey, what's wrong with you?" Anakin asked in the most blunt and direct way possible.

"Always with the criticism, Master," Memory Ahsoka rolled her eyes and head as irritation began to rise in her voice, "Never _really_ believing in me, trusting me."

She turned and looked like she was going to begin pacing for a moment before she stopped and turned away, "Well, I don't need you anymore!" Her voice sounding like a petulant child.

"Ahsoka," Anakin replied uncertainly before his voice became more firm, "Ahsoka, listen to me. He has done something to you. Snap out of it,"

He gestured around, "This isn't you, Ahsoka."

"Isn't it? I feel more like myself than I ever have!" Memory Ahsoka's voice now sounded to both Harry and Ahsoka like it was bordering on insanity. As she threw her arms out to the side as if to embrace it.

Her next words took the 'bordering' out of that phrase and went for all out.

"He asked me to give you a message," She said solemnly before her voice turned amused.

"He said if you don't join him, he will kill me," She actually put her hand to her mouth to giggle afterward.

"I won't let him," Anakin said determination in his voice.

Memory Ahsoka turned to face them once more and she pointed at Anakin, "Then _you_ will be forced to kill me!" She held her right hand at her waist and one of her lightsabers hanging at her belt snapped into her hand.

She ignited the lightsaber and a green blade emerged. Anakin's eyes widened, and then Memory Ahsoka leaped into the air, bringing her lightsaber down at Anakin.

"No!" Ahsoka cried reaching out in desperation as she watched her memory self move to strike down her former Master.

Anakin's reflexes were superb though and his blue lightsaber was in his hand and ignited in time to catch her blade on his.

Memory Ahsoka began a reckless and furious assault that had Anakin dodging backwards. He didn't seem to put any effort into counter attacking. Instead his movements were restricted to parrying and occasionally using his larger size and strength to push forward and force Memory Ahsoka back, but making no effort to return blows.

"I don't want to fight you, Ahsoka," Anakin stated during one parry exchange with the sabers.

Memory Ahsoka didn't respond immediately but when Anakin once more pushed her back using his strength, she performed a back handspring that kicked him backward and sent his lightsaber tumbling out of his hand. The lightsaber deadman switch killed the saber the instant it left his hand. The move also left him gasping for breath from the kick in the stomach and resulted in him on his hands and knees on the ground.

Memory Ahsoka got a triumphant smirk on her face as she landed between Anakin and the blade knocked from his hand, "And now the student will _kill_ the Master!"

Anakin didn't lift his head but he raised his hand and used the Force to pull the lightsaber to his hand.

Memory Ahsoka leaped forward urgently, once more bringing her lightsaber down in an arch, prompting another gasp from the real Ahsoka as she watched. Only Anakin's lightsaber got to his hand first and once more ignited to catch the down stroke on his blade.

He looked up in her eyes and a confident smirk crossed his face as he taunted, "You're getting ahead of yourself, aren't you, Snips?

"Don't call me that!" Memory Ahsoka protested with a cry of frustration. Their lightsabers sparking as they locked together, "I hate it when you call me that!"

Anakin didn't reply though the confident smirk didn't leave his face as she spun around to try and slash him from the other side which he parried easily. When she came back to strike him again he twisted his blade and disarmed her, sending her lightsaber out of her hands and into the air.

Anakin's smirk got wider for just a moment but Memory Ahsoka took one step then leaped on Anakin's shoulder and then up in the air to snag her errant lightsaber before turning once more to face Anakin.

This time she had her second lightsaber in her offhand and it's emerald glow joined the first as she ignited it.

"Two Jedi!" Memory Ahsoka grinned. And Harry and Ahsoka both noted Obi-Wan had stepped up to join Anakin, his own blue lightsaber already lit.

"Finally, a challenge!" The memory taunted before she leaped to attack them again. Her lightsaber whirling as the two Jedi were forced to remain on the defensive.

"Any suggestions?" Anakin demanded as he pushed Memory Ahsoka back with the Force, which she jammed her lightsabers into the ground to prevent her from going too far.

"Yes!" Obi-Wan said, "We cut her free!" He pulled an item out of one of his pouches and held it out, as a dagger formed in his hand.

"What is that?" Anakin demanded.

"It can kill the Son," Obi-Wan replied grimly.

Memory Ahsoka' eyes widened and her voice suddenly gained another timbre, sounding like a male overlapping her words, "Where did you get that? Give it to me!" Memory Ahsoka leaped toward the two Jedi, fury on her face.

Their fight was interrupted as two bodies came flying through the stain glass window of the temple. The flying bodies knocked all three Memory Jedi to the ground.

The real Ahsoka gasped and pointed at the two bodies, "It's the Son, and the Daughter. Light and Dark force aspects,"

Her tone trembled slightly, as she knew where this was going.

She didn't remember any of this but she did remember how things ended up after she woke up.

The bald headed pale man made it to his feet first. He distinctly reminded Harry of Voldemort given his unhealthy pale complexion though with more make up.

"So glad you could make it to our little party, father," The deep voiced man shouted at a third figure that had joined them flying sedately to the ground in front of the tree. Wings disappearing into his back after he landed.

"You will stop this!" The old man said.

"You are too weak for me, old man," The man in black spat as red lightning shot out of his fingers toward the old man who held his hands up, the red lightning coruscating into a shield that seemed only slightly more advanced than a Protego, "You mean nothing to me anymore!"

The old man struggled to hold the shield but was clearly was struggling to hold it up as the dark one continued to assault him. The inevitable occurred a few seconds later as the shield collapsed and the old man went tumbling backward.

The Son moved forward and once more assaulted him with red lightning.

"Anakin, now!" Obi-Wan tossed the large dagger to Anakin.

However Memory Ahsoka struck at that moment leaping forward and intercepting the dagger.

She tumbled forward and then ran up to crouch next to him. She looked back at her master with a sinister smile on her face and saluted with the blade. Before turning back toward the Son.

The Son turned away from torturing the old man with a smug look on his face as he looked down at Ahsoka and the dagger she had., "Everything has transpired exactly as I planned."

The Old man lifted his head to look first at the dagger and then up at the pale glowing woman with light green hair, "You showed them the altar?!"

"I am sorry, father," The woman, still clutching her stomach said as she pushed herself up from the ground, being aided by Obi-Wan, "I didn't know how else to stop him."

The Son ignored her, and held out his hand to Ahsoka, "Give it to me, child."

Memory Ahsoka glanced back at Anakin with a smug look of her own.

"Ahsoka, no!" Anakin protested.

She ignored him and handed the dagger to Son.

The real Ahsoka breathed in a sharp breath. Harry didn't react at all, just watched closely.

"Thank you," The Son practically purred as he accepted the dagger, "Your usefulness has come to an end,"

He reached out with two fingers and pressed against Ahsoka's forehead, eerily reminiscent of the same motion Harry had done a few moment earlier when showing her the portion of her mind that had been obliviated. However the result here was much different

Memory Ahsoka collapsed to the ground bonelessly.

The lightsaber she still held in one of her hands slipping from her lifeless fingers.

"No!" Anakin protested, rushing forward only to be immediately pushed back with the Force by the Son with an almost negligent gesture.

He turned his attention back toward the old man, "The Jedi have brought me the dagger, and you have brought yourself."

He paused a moment to smile with relish, "Now, father, you will die," He lifted the dagger above his head and brought it down in a vicious gesture.

"Father!" The green haired woman threw herself between them with a gasp, and ended up taking the dagger in her back.

The Son gasped and staggered back in horror. He looked at his hands and threw back his head, letting out a primal wail, "Whyyyy?" Before he thrust himself into the air, flying upward and then shifting in mid-flight to another form.

That caused a raised eyebrow from Harry who had otherwise been watching the memory version of Ahsoka closely

"My daughter," The grief of the old man was palpable as he pulled the dagger from her back and tossed it aside, "What have I done?"

"Do not hate him, father," The injured daughter coughed weakly, "It is his nature."

"No!" The old man protested sorrow filling his voice, "All is lost. The balance has been broken. I thought by bringing you here, I would…" He trailed off, "But I have destroyed everything."

"Can you help her?" Anakin demanded gesturing down at a lifeless Ahsoka.

Harry's eyes were now focused exclusively on the unmoving memory version of Ahsoka.

"There is no light," The Old Man mourned seemingly unaware of Anakin's plea, "The evil has been unleashed, and the Dark Side shall consume her."

"You must help her!" Anakin demanded his voice getting more desperate.

"I cannot undo what is done," regret filled the Old Man's tone, "There is no hope."

"Yes, there is!" Anakin shot back, passion filling his voice, "There's always hope!"

The Daughter reached up to stroke her father's cheek, getting his attention, before pointing at Ahsoka, with a demand in her eyes.

The old man sagged for a moment before nodding, "Then let my daughter's last act be to breathe life into your friend."

The old man moved to stand at the head of the two and gestured for Anakin to kneel in front of him.

Anakin knelt and as if directed by the movements of the Old Man behind him moved his arms to rest above the forehead of the Daughter and the immobile Ahsoka.

It took only a moment for them to see the results both of the nearly unmoving bodies began to glow with a white light and lifted off the ground.

The light was so bright it forced Obi-Wan to turn away, even the real Ahsoka turned away. Harry didn't; he stared resolutely at the process, his face set in a small scowl.

The light faded and both bodies fell to the ground lifeless.

Anakin looked at the lifeless body of Ahsoka hopefully for a moment but when it remained unmoving he bowed his head. However a moment later, the body of Ahsoka gasped in a deep breath of air and pushed herself into a sitting position.

Anakin immediately moved to her before wrapping her in a gentle hug, "Hey, Snips."

"What's going on?" the woozy Memory Ahsoka asked in a voice filled with confusion.

"Uh, not much," Anakin replied in an utterly unconvincing manner, "It's good to see you."

The real Ahsoka shook her head, "I remember that part, he did tell me not much… he left some stuff out,"

Her voice held irritation and a sense of betrayal, though she at least understood that he was trying to protect her. She was too upset with herself and her own actions to really focus any true irritation at Anakin.

The real Ahsoka had moved over to stand next to the crouching old man who remained with his head bowed over his lifeless daughter. She remembered this part, the genuine sorry as he entreated them to leave.

Harry remained standing and observing a distance away from all the others.

"As the balance in this world crumbles, so shall war escalate in your galaxy," The old man spoke crouching over his lifeless daughter, "As my son has descended into the dark side, so have the Sith gained strength."

There was a slight ripple that passed through the area causing Ahsoka to look in around in confusion and Harry to narrow his eyes and flex his jaw slightly.

"I failed in my charge," The old man said mournfully, with a voice that betrayed an endless depth of sorrow.

The real Ahsoka frowned and looked at the old man sharply, "I don't remember him saying that the first time,"

"That's because we're not in your memory," Harry said, his voice icy cold.

"What?" Ahsoka asked looking around in disbelief. It was then that she noticed her memory self and Anakin and Obi-Wan all seemingly frozen in place.

"We haven't been for quite some time," Harry replied his voice level.

"Why didn't you say something?" Ahsoka demanded and then frowned looking at the old man who was unmoving and looking down at his daughter. "And… does that mean that none of that happened?"

"If it _was_ your memory, the entire sequence would have stopped when you collapsed. I was waiting to see if this was an attempted gateway to a possession of you. I'm very familiar with having an enemy within your own mind," Harry replied, "As for the rest-"

"The rest was accurate," The old man lifted his head to suddenly fix his gaze on Harry.

Ahsoka jumped back more than a little startled, having thought the old man was frozen like the rest. She quickly backed up toward Harry who watched the old man warily though he remained unmoving.

"What's going on?" she demanded.

"I'd hazard a guess and say that all this was him. Or more accurately, it's his thoughts and personality," Harry replied shortly.

He didn't tell Ahsoka that he was gathering his power to eradicate the being if he made any move to endanger them or possess Ahsoka.

"Not memory, merely a vision. I am no threat, I simply bear a message," The old man spoke, as if knowing Harry's intentions. His gaze fixed on Harry for a few moments before he turned to look back down at his daughter. "A message that will only be viewed if chance intervenes and specific unlikely events come to pass."

"What events?" Ahsoka asked, her guard was up, knowing they were in her mind had her suspicious of something she didn't know or wasn't in control of.

"She… was far far wiser than I ever gave her credit for," The old man said mournfully, as his fingers brushed over his daughter's cheek.

"What?" Ahsoka inquired at the topic shift once more, "What are you talking about?"

"Being confused is normal when talking to old men. Specifically those with white, grey or silver beards, who try to appear to be all-knowing," Harry interjected, a trace of irritation in his voice.

"Talking in riddles and half sensical comments that can be twisted to make sense later. Giving credit to another is rare though. You actually don't see this kind of being do that sort of thing very often." Harry's voice was sarcastic, though his anger remained.

The old man's eyes shot up and fixed Harry with an angry stare, "My daughter gave her own life in exchange for bringing this one back from the dead,"

"Dead?" Ahsoka said faintly, "I was dead?"

"Yes. Your life was taken by my Son the instant he poisoned you with the Dark side and made your body nothing more than an animated corpse," The Old man's head dropped to look at the woman in his arms, lying completely still. "My daughter sacrificed herself and any chance she had of healing her own wound to bring you back,"

"Ah yes, another characteristic of the species Magicus Beardius," drawled Harry in a bored manner, though more than a hint of steel was under his words, "This specific behavior is the tendency to habitually fall back upon what I call 'the guilt trip.' Implying that you owe him something, and implying that he _obviously_ had no part or responsibility whatsoever in raising his son into the Monster he grew up to be. The Monster that killed you in the first place."

Before the old man could say anything, Harry continued, "Be wary of this one, Ahsoka. He obviously has an agenda, and its… _shady_ enough in its intentions that he doesn't feel comfortable outright telling you what it is. He'll obfuscate and meander around what he truly wants, never telling you what some secret side-effect will ultimately come about that will benefit him."

"There is nothing about this situation that benefits me, just you my boy," The Old Man said sadly.

"I'm not _your_ anything. Least of all boy," Harry replied sharply.

The old man smiled bitterly, "You're right of course. You would prefer a more formal title? I suppose one should observe some formalities when talking with the Master of Death."

Ahsoka could actually feel Harry stiffen next to her, his expression going hard and his magic building. The connection she had with his emotions suddenly chilled, and if she didn't know better, Harry was preparing himself for a battle.

"How do you know that phrase?" Harry demanded, a much more cautious look in his eyes.

The old man chuckled mournfully, his eyes gazing up into a sky that no longer resembled the scene from which they started. It began to coalesce into grey storm clouds, with flashes of light signifying distant lightning, but there was no sign of thunder.

"The three of us all have the ability of foresight. A curse as often as it is a blessing. My son ever looked for ways to escape. Never any farther. I had a vision that this might one day transpire. It was… unlikely in the extreme and all hinged on two decisions of young Ahsoka Tano. The rest fell upon your choices,"

"What two decisions?" Ahsoka blurted, finally re-entering the conversation after the thought of being brought back to life had settled.

"Your decision to chose that bar to go into, at that time," The old man answered calmly, "Whether you attribute it to decision or random chance, the point is you decided to enter that one," He said, cutting off her comment. "And then your decision to not only request to stay with your young Master, but to be trained by him,"

"He did the rest when he agreed to take you on as an apprentice," The Father's eyes fixed on Harry once more who was regarding him without a hint of what was going on in his own mind, "Otherwise this message will never be seen."

"You keep saying message," Harry said, his voice emotionless, "I just know I'm going to regret asking this. But… what message?"

"This message is for the both of you," He said, his voice suddenly coming out sounding like there were two people speaking, himself and a female.

Ahsoka recognized the voice of the daughter.

"A specter who mastered Death from another time and place. A being who has long been a lonely company of one, familiars and servants notwithstanding. Now the company has doubled. The specter joined with one who like him has died. Whose soul was touched by death and who was exposed to the very best and very worst of my children."

"Damnit…" Harry muttered rubbing a hand over his face, "Prophecy. I hate prophecy."

The Old Man didn't move but his eyes glittered darkly as he spoke, "So many events and possibilities hang in the balance. Your decisions will have long felt ripples for good and for ill. Already her very existence merely next to yours has had an effect on others. Now that she is joined with you, for good or ill that will only grow,"

"For too long the Force has been attempting to guide events. However it is a pale shadow of it's true self. It has slumbered, and been restrained. Repressed at every turn. The weak shadow of itself used for selfish ends of people as bad or worse than my son. But you… you will unleash Magic on a galaxy that has been too long bereft. Even now it awakens from its slumber and exults in its use."

"Not even we know what the outcomes may be. But… we do know that as you are with Death, so you shall be with Magic. Only now you are not alone. Soon, two will be four, four will be five… five will be six… six may grow, but then there will be two… always two. Two will be one that has the possibility to last until time unseen,"

"Oh for fuck's sake." Harry muttered. "If there is one thing I hate more than prophecy it's riddle prophecies."

The old man's mouth stopped moving for a moment but words continued. Only they were solely from the female voice that seemed to float on the wind, "Faces and names, new and old will join you on this journey. Including those who already seek to understand you."

The old man picked up seamlessly, speaking solo for a moment, "Faces and names, new and old will oppose you on this journey. Including those who will, and already do, seek to wrest everything you are and have away from you,"

Their voices once more blended as one, "To what end, not even Magic dare predicts. But to an end where the ripples spread across the galaxy. Forever."

Silence hung in the air, before the female voice spoke once more by herself, "A final entreaty. Do not give up on those who don't know any better, they only know what they have been taught,"

Those words hung in the air ominously before there was a suddenly crash of lighting and both Harry and Ahsoka stumbled back slightly. They found themselves back in Ahsoka's library.

The courtyard and the old man was gone.

Harry was pinching the bridge of his nose with his eyes closed.

Ahsoka could feel a combination of irritation and weariness from him, but also an undercurrent of guilt and uncertainty.

"Harry? Are you okay?" She asked quietly.

She had her own thoughts she was dealing with. She didn't like that someone had put something in her head. But that was secondary to the idea that according to the man she had actually been dead.

Harry slowly nodded, though didn't stop pinching the bridge of his nose or even open his eyes, "Yes, I'm fine."

"You don't feel fine…" Ahsoka commented quietly, with concern in her voice.

Harry huffed a half laugh, running a hand through his hair, eyes still closed, "This is why I hate when people try to look in the future. They always create confusion and uncertainty as you try to read meaning into words. Especially when most of the things they say are so obscure, they make no sense until after the fact,"

"But not all the things said were obscure," Ahsoka said, her voice a soft declarative statement. She had seen Harry's reaction to the words and watched him closely.

"Yes," Harry sighed and nodded a bit. Finally opening his eyes. He had been subtly checking to make sure there was nothing else in her mind that was like that fragment of memory they had seen. He was well aware of the dangers of preserved memories and fragments of others found in people's minds. He had thankfully found nothing.

He didn't expand further, instead he looked around one last time before holding his hand out to Ahsoka, "C'mon, let me show you how to exit your mind.

Ahsoka nodded slowly at Harry's abruptness, she wanted to press further but also wanted to make sure the real world was still where she had left it so to speak. She reached out and took Harry's hand and felt a slight tugging sensation.

Between one moment and the next they were once again sitting on her bed, cross legged and facing each other. Ahsoka blinked and rubbed her eyes which were a bit dry.

She shook her head slightly, looking around, "How long were we in my mind?"

"About five minutes," Harry replied rubbing his chin and blinking a few times. A silence descended as Harry regarded her quietly, an air of expectation.

"What?" She asked after less than thirty seconds of his observation. She was amazed that it was only five minutes, it had certainly seemed far longer.

"Just waiting for you to ask your questions," Harry replied, unable to keep a bit of weariness out of his voice.

"Do you want to talk about what the things he said?" Ahsoka asked quietly.

Harry smiled sardonically, "Not particularly. But I know you have questions, and you certainly deserve answers." He was absolutely not going to avoid answering them because they made him uncomfortable. He had learned that lesson.

Ahsoka nodded hesitantly. She didn't want to press when Harry seemed as off as he was, and admitted to not wanting to talk. At the same time he had said some things that she was worried about, and as that was a completely surreal experience for her, finding an unknown message in her head,

"Then ask," Harry replied gently seeing her expression and able to tell her indecision.

Normally Ahsoka would have balked, especially given the his admittance of not wanting to talk. But there were points she had to bring up, since this happened in her mind.

"Was he telling the truth when he said I died?" She blurted out.

Harry paused a moment before answering honestly, "Truthfully, I… don't know,"

"You were definitely possessed. Something that should be infinitely harder, if not damn near impossible now that your mind is protected by the way," Harry rubbed his chin slowly. "The possession took a toll on your body. Unsurprising, even willing possession can be stressful on a body, and require magical steps to be taken so the body doesn't burn out. You definitely were not breathing when you collapsed. And there definitely was a gift of magic to your body, using your old master as a conduit. So… if I had to guess, I would say he was being truthful,"

"If I had been there to see the magic instead of just the memory I could have told you for certain." Harry concluded.

Anger flashed across Ahsoka's expression as her brow furrowed. "Why didn't he tell me?" Her tone filled with a combination of hurt and anger.

When Harry just cocked his head curiously, she explained, "Anakin said that nothing had happened. Just that they had rescued me and the Daughter gave her life protecting her father," Her tone grew more hurt as she spoke.

Harry sighed a little bit and ran his hand over his face, "Truthfully, he probably thought he was protecting you."

"Protecting me from what?" Ahsoka asked incredulously.

"From feeling guilty for actions you had no control over? Handing over that dagger? A dagger that was then used to kill the daughter who helped return you to life by giving her own?" Harry opined.

"That was an insult to her memory then," Ahsoka replied shortly.

"Perhaps, but I'll ask you the same question from earlier. Do you think he did it to be malicious?" Harry asked, his tone soft.

Ahsoka deflated slightly, "No. He probably did it to keep me from blaming myself for everything."

Harry nodded a little bit and then fell silent, awaiting her next inevitable question.

"What… did he mean when he called you the Master of Death?"

Harry flinched and sighed. Even expecting the question still made him sigh, "That… is a very _very_ long story that starts with a myth on my world. And makes me sound like a villain,"

Ahsoka tilted her head and regarded him for a moment before shaking her head, "Does it make you evil? or Dark? Or make you need to kill people or something?"

Harry huffed and shook his head, "No, but that's exactly what I mean. Hardly one of my more pleasant titles,"

"Okay…" Ahsoka trailed off uncertainly.

"Long long _long_ story, made incredibly short. There was a myth on my planet that three brothers defeated Death. For doing so Death gave them three boons. One asked for, a way to beat Death. Another, a way to bring someone back from the dead. The last, a way to hide from Death." Harry explained as succinctly as he could. "In the end the items didn't do what the brother's really wanted, and they all died."

"However the myth went on saying if someone united all three items they would become the Master of Death. Though no one could say exactly what that title meant, or what it entailed." Harry chuckled, "For how this all relates to me? Through a stupidly convoluted process, I ended up in possession of all three items. Uniting them for the first time made the Master of Death. Despite initial attempts to rid myself of the title, I've never been able to, and thus I've been Master of Death for a long time."

"So what does that title actually mean?" Ahsoka asked quickly.

"Honestly? There's never been an instruction manual or anything. But not a whole hell of a lot. I can sense the dead and speak with them. I can sense when people do things with their souls that they shouldn't. I can help a spirit pass on, or force them too." Harry shook his head. "I don't go out killing people or take any special pleasure in Death. I don't take missions from some deity on the other side and act as his hand amongst the living. There are a few quirks to having all three, but that's the main bit."

Ahsoka wanted to ask what someone could do with a soul that they shouldn't, but regarded him steadily for a moment before she nodded, "Okay. I'm obviously curious about the other quirks… and all the things you've said that I really want to know about... but I will ask those another time."

Harry's eyes flicked up from staring at his steepled fingers to look in her eyes, "What?" She had actually managed to catch him off guard.

"What?" She echoed, a bit of amusement on her own face, "You've talked about having kids and _grandkids_. You look twenty five. You've mentioned odd things about your world, about the place you came from. You're teaching me more about the Force, and myself than I feel like I've learned in years. I really do want to know about you, and soon. But It's obvious you don't want to really get into it at the moment, You say it doesn't mean you're a hidden Sith lord or something and I'll accept that."

Harry regarded her, with surprise riding freely in his expression. He had always vowed never to take the Dumbledore approach when dealing with information and people he cared about.

There would be no half truths and hidden knowledge 'for their own good.' Especially if it affected their lives. And anyone else who had a thirst for knowledge like he had seen from her would have been peppering him with questions.

But Ahsoka wasn't urgently pressing him on a deeply complicated story. It… was very touching.

"I will tell you everything you want to know and soon. As my apprentice, you should definitely know," He said quietly. "Thank you,"

She smiled comfortingly at him, pleased that she had done the right thing and knew she had with the genuine thanks in his tone and the relief she felt from him, "You're welcome,"

She smiled and then tilted her head, "Now are you going to tell me why I can suddenly… sense you? When you've been nothing but a blank slate before?"

Harry chuckled a little bit at the change of topic, "Yes, but it's probably easier if I just show you," His eyes began to glow slightly. He reached forward and once more pressed two fingers against her forehead.

Ahsoka blinked, half expected to be taken someplace else, and for a moment she had thought she had been. Everything around her suddenly seemed to be glowing.

"It's called mage sight. Controlling your magic, putting it into your eyes to see other magic," Harry explained to her unasked question.

She looked around and for a few moments was disoriented, she could see through things, walls, shelves to outlines of magic farther away. She held her hands up and could see a faint outline and after images as her fingers traced patterns through the air.

After looking away from her hands, what really drew her attention is that she could see the outline of four beings in the distance.

Dobby glowed a faint grey, the same from another form that seemed to be stationary up near the roof. It took Ahsoka a moment in which she squinted slightly to realize that it was Hedwig.

Not far away, she could see much brighter forms of Aayla and Shaak Ti. Those two glowed a sapphire blue. She could see a smaller form that seemed to be popping around, which she realized was Dobby. It was incredibly disorienting for several moments since the distance between things seemed off especially with so much ambient magic.

She turned her attention to Harry. He was faintly glowing as well, but it seemed mostly repressed. Harry was waiting patiently for her attention to return to him.

"This is amazing," She murmured in awe.

He chuckled softly at her expression. "Like I said, seeing magic. But this is what I was concerned about," Harry gestured down.

Ahsoka followed his gesture and saw a line of magic, a dark white or gray and about the thickness of her fist, between the two of them. It was grey and seemed to come out of Harry's chest and go directly to her chest. She moved her hand and swiped it through the line, it didn't seem to have any impact. She tried again to the same result.

She felt faint amusement from Harry at her actions and looked up to him with a questioning look.

"That... is a bond," Harry stated, "An apprentice bond to be specific."

"An Apprentice bond? What does it do?" Ahsoka asked poking at the line between them.

"Well, it's a general connection between the two of us, which would explain why you're bypassing my occlumency and able to sense my emotions," Harry stated. "Beyond that? Fuck if I know,"

Ahsoka looked at him startled, "You don't know?"

"Haven't the foggiest," Admitted Harry with a shrug, "Never had an apprentice, never tried to take one on, and while you were napping I glanced through a few of my books and almost all their information is guesswork and supposition,"

Ahsoka frowned and poked it again, "So why don't they know? I thought your people were used to teaching people."

Harry nodded, "They are, but the apprentice style has fallen largely out of favor to general schooling. And apparently an apprentice bond is rare usually only from a powerful wizard."

He looked sheepish, "The Potter effect strikes again."

"Harry Potter doesn't do normal," He clarified her inquiring expression with a wry chuckle.

"So what's it going to do?" Ahsoka asked.

Harry shrugged, "Not a clue. You're welcome to avail yourself of the library to see if you can find more information.

Ahsoka frowned and poked the bond again uncertainly.

Harry watched amused for a few moments before he caught her eyes. "Now, you've seen your memories, including the one of the trial that set you off earlier," When Ahsoka nodded, he continued, "And I've promised to share more about my life, would you care to see my trial from when I was a few years younger than you?"

She was somewhat hesitant when she nodded, as she was starting to get tired. But he met her eyes and she felt herself pulled into his mind, instantly finding herself inside a dark room. Looking around, she realized it was very similar to the Hall of Judgment in the temple. Only, rather than surrounded by ten or so Jedi, they were surrounded by dozens of people who stared down imperiously at the surprisingly small and nervous looking boy that was sitting in an ominous looking chair in front of her.

A boy she recognized as a teenaged Harry Potter.

oOooOoOOoOooOo

**Author's notes:**

**Wheee another chapter!**

**Minor correction so I didn't note hedwig twice. **

**1) I really enjoyed writing this chapter, because I got to explore Ahsoka more closely, and allow her and Harry to connect a bit more. We also got to explore occlumency in a fun way. I always get irritated by every occlumency description ever being all "all my memories sorted into a library". So yeah. **

**2) I haven't watched all the clone wars episodes but the episodes with the Father, Son and Daughter, was not only bizarre but also interesting. So I thought of a way to incorporate it in a way that I thought was interesting. I also thought it would be an interesting blend to get magic prophecy in there as well. So yeah. At least I think I'm being creative!**

**3) Ventress was always interesting to me as a character. And canon doesn't ever explain why she goes back to serve Dooku, so I'm just being flexible in how I present her storyline, and I pretty much love Dooku, the late great Christopher Lee just brought such a refined and cultured character, that shone through even with Lucas' robotic and wooden dialogue. **

**4) For those accusing me of bashing. I look at it in this way. If I were bashing, I would be giving the Jedi motivations that are dumb or maniacal. I would be inventing dumb things that they would do. I've done that precisely once in this story. Everything else Harry has presented is canon. That's not Harry bashing, that's Harry saying, "Um. They did this." **

**5) Plums Ponderings: **

**This was one of those "surprise" chapters for us. The previous chapter was written, as well as the chapter after it. Then Kat got an idea for a scene, which snowballed and eventually needed to be split into its own chapter just because of how far it ended up being taken.**

**I think we're conscientiously trying to show more POV's than just the main group now. We haven't seen the Jedi for a while, and certainly not much when we do. Now, we're going to make sure the Baddies get their time in the spotlight, ultimately ensuring the Big Bad Daddy Darkness gets plenty of time to show what's going on in that screwball head of his along with his primary minions.**

oOooOoOOoOooOo

**Alternative Chapter Titles-**

"**There is no way this assault goes badly." -General Grievous and Count Dooku**

"Hi. I'm Harry Potter, we haven't met." - Harry

"Something tells me you will soon." - Ahsoka

"**You wouldn't like me when I'm angry." - Harry **

"**I Looked Really Creepy." - Ahsoka.**

"Most people do when they're dead… or crazy… or both." - Harry Potter

"Why do I think you have experience with that?" - Ahsoka

"Hi, my name is Sylvanas Windrunner." - Plums' other stories make a cameo (Which we're working on getting another update to!- Kat)

"And I'm Lord Voldemort! I will rule everything!" - Voldemort

"You're not in this story Tom. Get out of here!" -Harry

"But… but…" - Voldemort

"No." - Harry

"**A Chapter** **in which there was no sexual innuendo aimed at me." - Aayla**

"You didn't even appear in this chapter!" - Ahsoka

"Shame… an entire chapter without comments about Aayla's boobs." - Harry

"**Either I am the best teacher ever. Of all time. Or Ahsoka is a prodigy." - Harry**

"Or it's possible that Jedi training wasn't entirely useless and there may be some benefits." - Shaak Ti

"Sorry. You lost me at no sex." - Harry

"**Jedi Trials and Wizengamot. Different tune, same beat. Guilty until innocence is rammed down their throats and they choke on it." - Harry Potter**

"And we almost got through a chapter without 'bashing.'" - Aayla

"No, no. He said Jedi were arrogant! That's totally bashing!" - Random reviewer

*sound of a chainsaw starting up*

"What are you doin-AHH! MY FACE!"- Random reviewer

"**I fucking hate Prophecy." - Harry**

"Why?" - Ahsoka

"..." - Harry

"**Introducing a bearded old man with vague intentions who likes to do things in unsuspecting people's minds…" - The Father**

"This is a recurring theme, isn't it?" - Harry

"I don't know what was worse. Being dead, or having an weird old man mess with my mind." - Ahsoka

"We seem to be more and more alike the longer I know you." Harry

"I feel a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror." - Obi-Wan


	12. A Rude Awakening

**~Chapter 12~**

**A Rude Awakening**

The next morning two restless Jedi and one soundly sleeping former Jedi padawan were all simultaneously jarred awake by the sound of an explosion. The Jedi Master was sitting outside with her legs crossed, in a meditative trance when she heard the sound erupt from inside the nearby structure of her host. The former padawan, along with the remaining Jedi Knight, were inside the building, asleep in the beds they had been assigned the previous evening.

It had been a long night for both Shaak Ti and Aayla Secura, as they had both stayed up for quite awhile listening to Harry and Ahsoka, before they had slipped out in the silence. The discussion between the two that followed was brief and uncertain, as the two Jedi wanted to make knee-jerk reactions to what they had witnessed, but the words of their host at least kept them from acting without thought. Neither of the women was quite certain what to say, and Aayla was still very limited in what she _could _say.

Shaak Ti had always been the more thoughtful one of the pair, and she had never been dressed down the way she had been the night before. On the other hand, Aayla had been around Harry for quite a bit longer, and could clearly see both sides of the argument, though could admit she was at a loss as to which side was ultimately correct. However neither said much about the course of action they should pursue as each was quite deeply lost in their thoughts, much of which were deeply personal. Aayla had only left to lay down a few hours earlier, and Shaak Ti had struggled to meditate in the few hours afterwards, her mind racing with thoughts, possibilities, and consequences of what she had witnessed..

All three reacted to the explosion in a similar manner however.

Ahsoka, who hadn't changed out of her previous day's outfit that consisted of a midriff baring top and shorts, dashed out of the sectioned off room where their beds were placed. Aayla was several steps behind her, obviously having taken time to once more pull on a shirt provided by Dobby to preserve her modesty. Aayla had her lightsaber in hand while Ahsoka instead had her newly acquired wand in hers, though she looked much less confident with it in her hand than she would like to admit. Shaak Ti, who had remained outside meditating had rushed into the house, also plunged through the entranceway, lightsaber also in hand and ready for a fight.

All three stared at the sight before them.

One corner of the large area they looked at was now scorched black with a crater that was a few feet deep. The roof above the area had even collapsed leaving a hole to the open night, and piles of debris everywhere. Though there didn't seem to be any damage outside of a perimeter of roughly a dozen feet in that particular corner. The group stare at the devastation, unsure of what was happening.

Their collective attention was drawn by a cough as the remains of what looked like a bench were pushed away from one of the piles of debris. Harry was on the ground, covered in soot from head to toe, coughing slightly. "Dobby please make a note; I was wrong. Waaaaay too much sap in that mixture,"

Dobby popped next to Harry shaking his head, his tone scolding "Dobby tried to warn Master Harry Potter that it was going to go boom. But does Master Harry Potter listen to Dobby? No, of course he doesn't."

"How many Potions Masteries did you get, Dobby?" Harry asked with a huff, wiping at his face to little avail. He seemed to just be shifting the black soot like substance around

"Dobby not need Mastery to know that when cauldron starts to shake and make noises like screeching kneazle, that it's about to go boom," Dobby replied with a huff.

Harry rolled his eyes, as he pushed other bits of debris off himself and pushed himself to his feet. "Well… Dobby, you weren't _sure_… now we are!" He replied, determined not to have the last word.

"Dobby sure. Master Harry Potter just being stubborn," Dobby replied with a sniff before he turned back to the mess that surrounded them and began to assess the total damage.

"Harry? Are you okay? What happened?" Ahsoka inquired urgently, looking like she wanted to run up to him but at the same time still looking around for the cause of the explosion

Harry blinked in surprise at having an audience "Oh. Hey ladies, what's up?"

He stood up and began to dust himself off, sighing at the circular destruction around him. The wasn't a single inkling of concern in his body language and voice, which seemed absolutely contrary to the past experience of all three Jedi present. An explosion that loud should be cause for far more concern than their host was currently giving.

"Harry, what are you doing?" Ahsoka asked as she looked around.

Harry looked around sheepishly, "Currently? Realizing I need a bath… and, from your presence here, being reminded I should have included silencing charms in the warded area."

"No, I mean… what were you doing that caused an explosion?" Ahsoka sighed, Harry's attitude making it clear that there was no imminent threat, so she was better able to relax. The two Jedi weren't quite as trusting of her judgment of the situation, and were still very much on alert.

"Oh. I was attempting to turn a potion into a pill," Harry was looking around in irritation, and not paying attention to their blank looks, though he provided a more in depth explanation once his attention settled on them once more. "I was attempting to combine the properties of a blood replenishing potion and a pain relieving potion into tablet form. I was using sap from one of the trees here as a stabilizing agent,"

"Needless to say… not quite the result I was going for," he summed up dryly with a glance at them before he began to look over the area himself behind Dobby.

Aayla spoke up, her hands dropping to her side and her defensive stance dropping, "Why are you doing that?"

Harry turned to her and grinned, seemingly having forgotten about her pink coloring at the moment, his eyes once more taking a moment to travel up her legs. "Oh hey, Blue. Well, the potions taste horrible and can be awkward to carry around with you, so having them in pill form would be very handy,"

"Of course next I'll have to see about how the potions work with different races. I don't expect any problems, since they worked for half giants, veela, and goblins back on Earth and most of the non-humans in this galaxy aren't all that different from humans. But experimenting on sentient beings without… you know… proper preparation is generally considered bad form," his answer was equal parts cheek and seriousness, which kept the three from knowing exactly how to respond to him, especially since they had only understood about half of the words he said.

"Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to get a shower. Dobby, don't worry about the mess quite yet. Could you get them and yourself some breakfast?" Harry asked.

"Wouldn't be a mess if Master Harry had listened to Dobby," the diminutive being said with an almost unheard snicker of amusement at the expression on Harry's face then disappeared with a soft pop.

"Cheeky little bugger." Harry muttered as he pushed past the group, showing that it was really only his front that was covered in the black oily substance.

The back was dingy, but much cleaner, making it obvious that he was facing the blast when it went off. He pushed open a door a few yards away, that the others had discovered yesterday was a primitive refreshing station.

Ahsoka finally shrugged and chalked the whole incident up to another one of Harry's personality quirks, and moved off to gather some breakfast. Aayla shot Harry's retreating form a glare in minor frustration, before she too joined Ahsoka.

Shaak Ti didn't move to follow the other two, and waved off Aayla's curious look when she glanced back in curiosity.

Her thoughts were shunted to the side as she took the time to examine the remains of the portion of the room they were in. She had not taken time to explore the house she was in the previous evening, having spent the majority of time focused on Harry. However it was with something of a start that she realized they were in a laboratory, albeit a primitive one by modern standards.

It was some kind of alchemy, if her memories were correct, which honestly worried her but she did all she could to temper her reaction. The Sith were notorious in ancient times for their use of Alchemy to create vile monsters and abominations.

Naga Sadow, a Dark Lord whose exploits had been unearthed long after his passing, was famous for the monstrosities that he had created.

According the archives available to the Council only, it was long speculated that some of them could possibly still exist in some forgotten place on the four thousand year old quarantined moon of Yavin 4. A moon that had been quarantined after a rising Dark Lord had found and unleashed experiments that had been hidden for centuries after Sadow's death.

She shuddered at the thought that Harry might have learned alchemy, whether on that forbidden, isolated moon, or elsewhere. Such things had happened in the past. Some Jedi had even studied with the spirit of Naga Sadow himself which had inevitably resulted in their own downfall. Exar Kun's path to darkness four thousand years previous may not have started with the teachings of an errant spirit, but it had certainly hastened his plunge.

The act of a Dark Lord's passing on knowledge to future students from beyond the grave was just one of the plethora of problems the Jedi had confronted over the eons when dealing with the Sith. Even after a Dark Lord was killed or vanquished, the Jedi in the following generations could never be absolutely certain that the Dark Lord had finished corrupting others to their path.

Shaak Ti shook her head. It was useless and pointless to make conjecture about such things, and she froze. Was this just proving Harry's point from last night, about seeing unknown things and assuming the worst?

He had simply told her to ask questions instead of assuming and running the wrong way with partial observations, and yet here she was doing it again. She had immediately thought of past Dark Lords and monstrosities, and how such things had almost led to the complete fall of Jedi in the distant past, when all she had to work off was something that resembled an old fashioned lab, and Harry mentioning 'potions'. She realized just how far her conclusion-leaping had gone.

Shaak Ti thought all this while she stood outside the small washroom where Harry had been taking a shower. It seemed the only place in the warehouse like structure that was enclosed by actual walls and a door.

When he finally emerged, she stepped away, grabbing his attention and causing him to come to a stop. A towel was loosely wrapped around his waist, and his skin was cleaned of the black soot that had previously shrouded his face. The lack of clothing showed an extremely toned body that bore testimony to very hard work being devoted to its upkeep. He looked at her with a curious expression.

Shaak Ti cleared her throat, and asked, "May we start over, Mr. Potter?"

Harry blinked at the question, and she knew dozens of sarcastic remarks must be flashing through his mind at both her question and the way she'd phrased it.

Finally, he stared at her in the eye for a very long minute. If she didn't know better, she'd assume he was somehow judging her soul by the way he gazed into her eyes.

"On one condition," suddenly, he nodded brusquely, as if he had realized all of the conclusions she had begun to jump to and had to forcibly stop herself. "From here on out you'll ask questions before you assume anything, right?"

Shaak Ti glanced down and nodded a little bit. The fact that he had to demand that was more than a little testament to how off-center she was. She had always prided herself on being calm and level headed in any circumstance, but now she seemed ready to just jump at the smallest things.

"Alright then," He nodded agreeably, his posture relaxed as he moved past her back toward the main room.

She watched as he went to a well used cot and picked up a set of clothes that were folded and set on the edge of the bed. He picked them up, but then stopped and turned to her with an eyebrow raised in amusement. It took a few moments for her to realize why; he was waiting for her to leave. She blinked once and then turned away, cursing the blush that she knew had appeared visibly on her cheeks as she did so. "I'll leave you to it, Harry Potter,"

The Togruta Jedi Master watched him walk away, but the low chuckle that her Force-enhanced hearing picked up as she left had her shaking her head in embarrassment and furthered her uncharacteristic blush even more.

She joined the other two out around the table, thankfully obscured from Harry's bed by several book shelves.

As she sat down, Aayla drew her eye as the Twi'lek hesitantly poked at some of the food served, as it was obviously nothing she recognized. Her younger friend didn't seem to be concerned with the food, more just cautious about something utterly foreign to her, which wasn't something that happened often to well-travelled Jedi such as themselves.

Shaak Ti looked at the food herself, and found that she didn't recognize it either. That was very odd to see something that two extremely well-travelled Jedi had never encountered before.

Ahsoka picked lightly at the food Dobby had provided her, slowly making her way through the unfamiliar meal. The former Padawan wasn't even really paying attention to what she ate, as her mind was on the night before.

As she recalled the previous night, she realized Harry had spent quite a bit talking about his past, more than he had at any point previously, though she now felt as if she had even more questions than answers. He had been inside her head and let her inside his with yet another technique she had never heard of but wanted to learn.

Ahsoka had seen his own version of a trial that he had been put on. She almost hadn't recognized the Harry that she had seen there. He had seemed so small at the time, a mere shadow of the man he had grown up to be. It made her wonder what had truly happened in the intervening years, as the location she had seen filled with near-palpable tension could only truly account for a fraction of the difference in personality she had seen in the Harry who had almost lost the privilege to use Magic in his society.

The Harry that she had been in such close proximity to these past few weeks was confident, even brash. He moved with purpose and gave no excuses about just who he was. He was irreverent and seemed to have no filter at all when he spoke to people. The Harry in the memory seemed so… so… _timid_. The small boy seemed overwhelmed and even intimidated by those who the present Harry wouldn't have even bothered speaking with in a civil tone.

After the memory, in which he had been found not guilty of underage magic use (whatever they meant by that) he had expounded on it for her and explained the context of the trial. He had talked about the house he grew up in, and the controls the government exerted over its magic-using citizenry.

He hadn't gotten much more in depth than that, since he hadn't wanted to spend all night giving a detailed history of his planet or himself. But to Ahsoka, the point had been made. He hadn't been kidding or exaggerating when he had told her that he understood some of the feelings that she had gone through at her own trial.

Harry knew she had many questions for him; it was plain to see on her face. Before they had parted for the night he had told her to make a list of those questions and that he would answer them. She deserved that much, especially as his apprentice.

One of the things she truly liked about Harry was that, with the exception of his own personal history, which he wasn't so much evasive about as he was putting off what she now knew would be a long conversation, he always gave her direct and straight answers.

But in Ahsoka's mind, it was more than just that, which made it all the more impressive in her mind. The night before, she had asked him about the connection they now shared and what it meant. His response had been startling in that he hadn't the faintest clue. It wasn't his lack of knowledge on the subject that made her reel, but that he had flat out admitted it. He hadn't tried to pretend to possess knowledge and experience he didn't have, or maintained that it was a lesson and she needed to seek out information to determine the truth herself.

Harry had simply been honest with her, and even in being uncertain had somehow reassured her more than a lot of the philosophical run arounds she would sometimes get from Masters within the Order, with the obvious exception of Anakin, who redefined "direct" beyond the typical Jedi Guardian approach of "jump in and stab".

Ahsoka had gone to sleep composing that list in her mind, and was picking up right where she left it. She found it incredibly easy to do; not only to make that list, but to remember it and every single event that inspired each bullet on her list. She realized this was one of the benefits from all the effort and time she had been putting into occlumency for the past two weeks.

Harry came out a few moments later, hair still tousled and damp and with an empty plate in his hand. Then there was a small burst of the Force out of nowhere and suddenly the plate was heaped with food. That made her blink, despite how often such things happened with Dobby around these past few weeks. Apparently she was not yet as inured to it as she had thought.

"Thanks, Dobby," he said to thin air.

There was silence at the breakfast table, with Harry seemingly oblivious to it. Shaak Ti had never seen food appear out of thin air, and she was also keenly aware that Ahsoka thought nothing of it, and Aayla had only acknowledged the strangeness for a moment before returning to her own meal.

Harry only took a few bites of his own, before he waved his hand, and an old-fashioned calligraphy pen and a roll of parchment appeared in his hand. He flattened the parchment out, checked it for something, and began to write upon it

Finally, Ahsoka broke the silence by asking curiously "Why are you using something like that rather than a datapad?"

Harry blinked at the question and then laughed a little. "I'm just old fashioned in some ways I guess, even by the standards of my world. I actually keep telling myself that I'll convert a lot of my observations and findings to datapad, to say nothing of my library of books, but I just never get around to it,"

"Why don't you get a droid to do it?" Aayla inquired, thinking of the odd protocol droid on his ship.

Harry snorted, "The contradictions and concepts in what's in half of these would cause Minnie's logic circuits to melt. To say nothing of the books that can only be read under certain lighting, time of the year, or while performing certain actions,"

Ahsoka frowned but had a thoughtful look on her face, "You know, if that is a serious problem you're facing, I could update her logic to handle… odd things,"

Harry snorted. "It wouldn't do any good. Magic… and logic sometimes just flat out don't like each other,"

Any further discussion was cut off as a beeping sound filled the area. Ahsoka only took a moment to recognize it as Dobby reappeared next to the table.

"Master Harry Potter sir be having comm call from ship beeping at him." Dobby reported.

It took a few moments for Harry to process that statement, as he was concentrating on the parchment in front of him and the notes he was jotting down. Harry looked over at Dobby curiously. He had no idea who would be calling him.

"Not expecting a call?" Ahsoka asked based on his expression, pulled out of her own thoughts, but distracted from her intent to question him for some context on his history.

"No, almost no one has credentials that would cause this one to beep." Harry shook his head absently as he got up from the table and moved to a desk in the corner of the room. Harry pushed aside some books and one large crumpled up blanket to show a comm station. The items seemed to have been tossed there carelessly rather than deliberately, but clearly there was a message waiting at the comm station given the telltale flickering red light on it.

The girls all watched his communication with undisguised interest.

Harry curiously opened the signal, noting it was a communication from the _Gryffindor. _ He made no effort to quiet or hide the conversation from the other people in the room.

Minnie's distinctive odd shaped image popped up, and seemed to waste no time in pleasantries. "Mr. Potter you have an urgent message routed through your accounts. We received it last night, and I apologize for the delay. The computer reformat did not include your standard notifications. I was not made aware of it until my morning systems check."

"Alright, Minnie, patch it through." Harry replied, tilting his head and waving aside the droid's apologies.

Minnie's face was instantly replaced by a cowled and obscured figure that constantly fizzled, indicating the message was sent with haste without concern for quality. However despite distortion anxiety and stress was evident in the voice.

"I don't know who you are or what the frak you've gotten me into," the figure started with a trace of anger in its voice.

It took Harry and Ahsoka a moment to realize who it was, but clearly it was a sent message rather than an open call because the voice continued.

"I've got hunters and bots after me left and right. There's a bounty out for any information that may lead to me." The figure paused a moment and looked left and right as if expecting to be attacked at any time.

"I've got a hit on the information on that primary name you told me to track down, but it stirred up a whole frakking nest of angry gundarks. You have to find me if you want this information, because I'm damned near out of options to get myself out of this. I'm hiding out in one of my last safe houses on the off chance this heat dies down. Find me fourteen levels below where we initially made contact. Speak with a mechanic named Nllr Dep, he's easy to spot, he's got a robotic leg. The password is the same one you used when we first met."

"If you really want this information, you're going to have to come to me and get me someplace safe. I've already lost three of my bolt holes. Whoever I pissed off looking for this information wants me _badly._ I can't even escape the moon. Suffice it to say, if I survive, we're definitely going to be discussing price."

The call disconnected and Harry stared at the terminal in disbelief as he processed the call and replayed it in his mind.

"Harry?" Ahsoka started, her voice quiet and concerned. She could feel the shock and confusion in him.

Her voice seemed to snap him out of his shock, but Harry didn't respond to Ahsoka, instead merely said two words which all three females, who possessed extremely advanced hearing heard.

"Holy shit," he whispered.

He shook himself, and keyed up the comm channel to his ship, "Minnie."

"Yes, Master Potter." The droid's voice came back almost immediately.

"Start a systems check for takeoff, now." He ordered, without preamble.

"Yes Sir." The droid replied. "May I ask wh-"

"No." Harry cut off the droid and then killed the com connection.

He spun, walking past the table. "Dobby!" He shouted. completely ignored the Jedi sitting at the table.

Dobby popped up floating next to him this time, drawn by the urgency in his voice, he didn't make any smart comments or jokes.

"Get everything ready to go, I want to be out of atmo in twenty minutes tops."

"Harry?" Ahsoka repeated with a frown on her face. She could feel a whole cascade of emotions from him. Shock and confusion still rode freely, but anxiety, anger were also mixed in.

Harry turned as if remembering them there. "Sorry, I'm headed out in just a minute, if you need something walk and talk."

"What's going on?" Ahsoka bolted from the table, to move closer to him, though he wasn't leaving the room at the moment, he was just grabbing a bag and seemed to be haphazardly tossing some items into it.

Shaak Ti and Aayla watched; their expressions filled with curiosity. Neither knew much but obviously the message was serious enough for Harry to need to leave immediately.

"That hacker we went to Nar Shaddaa claims to have found something on the person I was looking for… a lot faster than I imagined… and certainly not in the way I imagined." Harry replied.

"Well… they were the best and you did offer a fortune." Ahsoka interjected

Harry nodded "Yes," he said before he turned back to grabbing supplies. "This is the first lead I've had... _ever._ I have to find out what happened. I have to go check this out. I have to _know._"

"Okay," said Ahsoka, coming to a decision that took no thought at all. "Then I'm coming with you."

Harry stopped and turned to look at Ahsoka, his expression was challenging, "You're not exactly inconspicuous at the moment. Half the bounty hunters in the galaxy are looking for you, and you want to go back to the moon that most of their employers live at?"

A few days ago she might have been affronted by his challenging tone. But she was slowly getting better at determining his swirl of emotions and she was sure she could feel there was genuine concern for her. "I don't care. You've kept me alive this far, and… what if you run into trouble?" Ahsoka replied, a small smile on her face.

"Me? Trouble?" Harry asked, with an affronted expression.

Ahsoka just stared at him and crossed her arms. Peripherally, she could see Aayla and Shaak Ti look at him in disbelief at his gall at such a statement.

Harry stared at her for a few seconds and then shivered. "Okay, Daphne used to react the exact same way when I said something like that. Same pose and everything. You need some more ice in the glare though."

Ahsoka didn't react to the comment, but Harry smiled briefly at the memory but then quickly shook his head. "Anyway, if trouble happens I apparate out, and no one finds me."

"What if they blow up your ship? They already did that to Aayla there, remember? And your ship is hardly inconspicuous." Ahsoka argued.

"I have enough money on me to go and buy a new ship there and pay in cash for it. It's not a worry. Plus I'd like to see them come up with anything to actually blow my ship up." Harry paused and then smirked, "And I'm pretty sure you remember the last time someone tried to storm my ship."

Ahsoka refused to be baited, even though the brief mental image of a pile of naked people popped up in her mind. "Harry, I'm not budging on this."

Harry stared at her and then shrugged in assent, turning away. "Fine," He didn't deny to himself that a part of him was pleased at her insistence. Once more their similarities popped into his mind.

Ahsoka looked pleased. "Thank you. Besides… you've shown that you can protect me if we happen to get in over our heads. What's the worst that can happen?"

Harry froze and then spun around to stare at her in abject horror. "Why would you do that?"

Ahsoka looked taken aback, as did the two other Jedi, but they remained silent.

"Do… do what?" Ahsoka tentatively asked. For the first time she felt like she actually did something wrong. She wasn't that adept at reading Harry's emotions enough to pinpoint why though.

"You just… sent out an engraved invitation to Luck, Fate, _and_ Mr. Murphy inviting them to get together and interfere!" Harry threw his hands up briefly in exasperation.

"Wh- who is Mr. Murphy?" echoed Ahsoka sounded confused.

"Asshole back on my world whose theory neatly defines my life. If anything can go wrong it will go wrong. With a special Potter addendum of 'at the worst possible moment or in the most humiliating way possible… or both'." Harry answered.

Harry sighed and shook his head and turned to move away from the kitchen, toward his room, intending to grab a change of clothes. However he had only moved a step when his comm unit started to flash red again, with a soft beeping sound this time. It drew the attention of every person in the room. .

He froze and then turned to fix Ahsoka with a glare before stalking back over toward the comm unit.

"What? How bad can it be?" Ahsoka asked, assuming the notification was simply Minnie telling Harry the system check had performed as expected.

Harry stopped sharply, and seemed to take a long breath. "Remind me to add to your instruction, lessons about not tempting Fate."

He jerked a thumb over his shoulder at her without looking back. "I'm stating for the record, if this is a message telling me my ship is somehow broken, infested with Tribbles, or another ride of mine has suddenly gained sentience and flew off on its own… I officially blame this on you." He seemed to brace himself before he flicked on the communication device.

The three women blinked in confusion, unsure whether to wonder what Tribbles were, or the part about a ride gaining sentience.

It took him a second of surprise to realize it wasn't his protocol droid, "Salporin?" Harry asked. He had given his Wookiee acquaintance a way to contact him in an emergency. He had never really expected the Wookiee to use it. There was a sinking feeling in his gut.

"_I'm giving you a direct head's up because I owe you for the slave raid sabotaged. We're evacuating the cities." _The Wookiee said without preamble or warning, with standard Wookiee bluntness.

_"_What? Why?" Harry demanded, well used to the very blunt way of talking the Wookiees tended to favor.

In the background there was sound of several Wookiees who also seemed to be speaking frantically. On his side there were two feminine gasps of shock, followed by a third a few moments later after Shaak Ti translated.

"A_ massive invasion fleet has jumped in system. Extra-planetary signals are already jammed. We're evacuating to prevent mass casualties from any bombardment on our cities." _Salporin replied

Harry slumped, both hands bracing himself on the edge of the desk that held the comm station. He shot an accusing glare over at Ahsoka before staring back at Salporin

A moment later Shaak Ti, who had moved from the table over to the com when she heard the initial news, stepped up next to Harry, "This is Jedi Master, General Shaak Ti with General Aayla Secura. What sort of forces are we looking at?"

Harry backed away from the com, allowing the two Jedi to step forward to speak to the Wookiee and giving Shaak Ti sole possession of conversation with the Wookiee.

He leaned against the wall, a hand on his face only partially listening to the conversation.

_"The fleet is definitely an invasion force. Most of the ships are dropships for ground troops. This is a massive offensive and our planetary defense ships won't even make them flinch." _Salporin explained to the general. He hadn't even batted an eye at her presence there or in the communication.

Ahsoka was listening to the conversation intently, but her eyes were focused solely upon Harry. He had slumped against the wall, his head was bowed and fingers were slowly rubbing the bridge of his nose. Through her newly forged connection with him, she could sense weariness, and the amusement and levity that was always just on the surface ready to be unleashed was gone from him. In its place was uncertainty...and tiredness?

"Have you contacted the Republic for reinforcements?" Shaak Ti asked.

_"All long range transmissions were jammed the instant they jumped into the system and they have multiple _Recusant_-class light destroyers amongst their fleet. We've tried sending two ships out with no word as to whether they've managed to get far enough to get a signal out or not."_ Salporin answered.

"A full invasion and subjugation force." Shaak Ti murmured after translating to Aayla.

"Intelligence never reported they had anywhere near the resources ready to do this on a planet such as Kashyyyk," Aayla replied, glancing at Shaak Ti in disbelief.

"Obviously they were wrong." Shaak Ti replied blandly.

Harry snorted at Shaak Ti's dry comment but didn't make any comment or move The two Jedi glanced at Harry but quickly looked back to Salporin.

"Where are you evacuating too?" Aayla asked focusing on the Wookiee once more.

Ahsoka only vaguely listened to the details the Wookiee was giving them. Instead she looked back to Harry. He wasn't making comments or acting at all now. As if he could sense her appraisal, he lifted his head and met her eyes.

Ahsoka didn't say anything as simply stared back into his unblinking gaze. She could read the indecision in them. Something that she wasn't used to seeing. His expression was torn, as if he was on the cusp of something he absolutely dreaded approaching.

She had her own similar feelings, she was sure. Her rank and privileges had been stripped from her, and she had no means or authority to truly participate in any conflict that occurred on this world. But that wasn't going to stop her from helping the Wookiees.

Harry's eyes focused on Ahsoka's. And he didn't even need legilimency to read the intent as a look of determination crossed her face.

His expression was replaced by one of concentration, tinged with reluctance as if he was attempting to figure something out.

Ahsoka watched with rapt attention as the emotions she could feel from him, mirrored the ones that crossed his face. But she couldn't sense the slightest wisp of Force use. It seemed that Aayla and Shaak Ti were completely unaware of it as well as they continued their discussion with Salporin.

Harry closed his eyes once more time, and for a brief moment an infinitely _weary_ look crossed his face as his body slumped and he sighed. Ahsoka heard the words "It never ends, does it?" from him.

And if she hadn't been watching his face she would have sworn he had spoken them. But his mouth hadn't moved at all.

This wasn't the Harry that laughed and joked, or spent time throwing sexual innuendo around like it was going out of style. This wasn't the one who had teased her about lightsaber colors, or turned Aayla pink.

This was the Harry she had passively observed as he stared with a sad expression at the slaves he had liberated from ship on Nar Shaddaa. This was the Harry she had seen in his mind the night before as he let her see a few brief glimpses from his life. Glimpses he promised to give her more context for later.

This was the Harry she knew had been seen war and its effects far more than he had even hinted to her thus far.

For Ahsoka, she saw the expression on his face. One she couldn't even put into words despite being able to feel the emotions in him. His eyes met hers for a moment that stretched out, and she met his gaze unflinchingly, allowing him to see the concern and worry in her mind. For just a moment she wished it was within her power to protect him from seeing war and its effects once more.

Harry's emotions reflected surprise briefly and then… then his countenance slowly morphed.

He straightened slowly and his expression cleared. The indecision fell away first, and then weariness dropped, To Ahsoka it was like someone had plugged in a power synthesizer to charge a droid's critically low battery.

Harry seemed deceptively relaxed now, like a predator strolling through a room full of other hunters that it knew it outclassed in every way. Harry stepped forward and very firmly, physically pushed the two Jedi out of the way of the communication unit, interrupting their conversation.

"Harry!" Aayla protested as she was pushed away.

"Salporin. Where are their primary ground forces landing? And how long do we have?" Harry demanded, the tone making it clear he wasn't brooking discussion he just wanted answers.

The Wookiee didn't seem too startled as Harry once more dominated the view screen. _"They'll make landfall in less than an hour. Our defense forces are already keeping advanced scouts from the cities and landing for the bulk of their primary force is projected at the coast near Kachirho."_

Harry nodded. He recognized the city name. He was familiar with the topology of the world, if they wanted to get a foothold they chose a good place. It was as coastal a city as Kashyyyk possessed. If the invasion force could take that city they'd have an entire staging area on the top level of Kashyyyk's vertical environment.

Landing on the trees would be stupid and no sane strategist would do so, not knowing what would and wouldn't support a ship, and in the city was at least somewhat risky because of its defenses.

"Okay look Salporin, I know you're busy, but I'm going to need you to take my call if I call back. Keep me abreast of any changes and try to get a better idea of what specific force we're looking at," Harry commanded, waiting only for an affirmative response from the Wookiee before he spun on his heel and walked out of the room decisively.

Ahsoka quickly stepped to keep up with him.

Shaak Ti debated following him but returned to the comm station to continue the discussion with Salporin. She had no idea what Harry was doing but she had bigger concerns right now. If Kashyyyk fell it would be a significant victory for the Separatist forces.

"Harry, what are you going to do?" Ahsoka asked.

Harry glanced back at her as he walked down the long aisles of books. A wry smile that lacked the humor of any smile she had seen from him before crossed his face, "What else? I'm going to be a Gryffindor and leaping in with both feet."

A puzzled expression crossed Ahsoka's face at that, though the barest hint of amusement flickered back to her from him at her confusion, which he obviously felt. Whatever internal dispute he may have been feeling earlier, was clearly gone.

Harry didn't stop to explain as he walked down one of the aisles of books, and they emerged into the study.

He didn't break stride until he walked up to the mantle right in front of the two paintings that came alive once more. The flame in the fireplace burst to life. Unlike the blue flames burning around the warehouse-like dwelling or the surrounding area, the flame was a far more common red.

Ahsoka slowed and behind her Aayla also slowed to a stop. Aayla had caught Harry's expression and having seen his actions in the slaver raid, curiosity had won out. Also, Shaak Ti would better hold the conversation with Salporin without having to constantly translate for her.

Harry seemed to ignore both of their presence as he placed his hand on the mantle below the two paintings and bowed his head taking a deep breath. The red flames flickered light on Harry's face, giving a dramatic cast to his features.

The two paintings uncharacteristically didn't say anything, they simply looked down at him, waiting expectantly. Harry finally lifted his head to look up, but didn't say anything.

"It's happening again," Daphne spoke quietly. There was no question in the painting's voice, it was merely a statement.

Harry simply nodded looking first at her and then Tonks.

"You know what you're going to do?" Daphne asked calmly.

"You know me," Harry replied mirthlessly.

"You never change," Tonks responded, there was fondness in her voice but a look of resignation on the painting's face.

Both paintings audibly sighed at the same time and looked down at him, their expressions conveying a myriad of emotions.

Ahsoka saw sadness, and affection in the paintings. But apparently Harry saw more.

Harry bowed his head once more and whispered, "I'm sorry." And she could feel that he was being honest. He did feel sorry, though underneath his sorrow was a strengthening resolve.

Harry's voice was apologetic, but there was a soft click and the fire immediately extinguished without a sound, as if it had never been there in the first place. Then the fireplace swung inward as if Harry had spoken a password. This caused Aayla to jump slightly in surprise. But Ahsoka was focused entirely on Harry.

Though he made no move to step into the dark space beyond.

"You know the tale of the scorpion and the frog, Harry," Daphne stated, her voice lacking accusation. Instead it came out as gentle and comforting.

"How could I forget?" Harry nodded slightly, a brief smile on his face. "You're the one that taught it to me."

"Like the scorpion. This is in your nature." Daphne said. "Granted, less hurtful to others, but in the end, just as dangerous to yourself." Despite the warning in the words, there was no sound that she was trying to coax of convince him in her tone.

"You wouldn't be Harry Potter if your nature didn't win out," Tonks added quietly, a tone as gentle as the one Daphne used.

Harry didn't say anything, just looked up at the two paintings. Ahsoka and Aayla both got the impression they were seeing a conversation that had been had before, possibly many times and the moment was incredibly private.

Harry looked like he was going to say more, but he finally stepped inside the newly revealed passage. Ahsoka tilted her head to the side to see Harry walk into the short corridor and a glimpse of shelves and what looked like a closed wardrobe.

Ahsoka looked up at the two paintings who had sad smiles on their face though they didn't say anything further. However she was almost immediately distracted by another voice. This one decidedly not feminine and from inside the passage Harry had stepped into.

"It's about time, how bloody long did you plan to leave me in here?" A gravelly male voice demanded, drawing Ahsoka's attention once more inside the hidden room.

Harry's voice actually sounded caught off guard for a moment, "Huh, I completely forgot where I put you. Honest mistake I'm sure." His tone was also somewhat dismissive.

Ahsoka peered around the mantle that was still pushed inward, trying to see what he was talking to. She assumed it was another portrait but a part of her couldn't completely put it past him to have a prisoner of some sort in there.

"'Honest mistake', my arse," replied the voice.

"You don't have an arse," Harry replied distractedly.

Ahsoka moved closer to the entrance of the hidden room and peered in, in the process she caught a glimpse of Harry, bare from the waist up. She immediately received even more of an eye-full as Harry quickly tugged off his pants and undergarments before spinning multiple times in circles as he looked for something. She immediately pulled back, before he could see her, blushing hotly at the fact she now had Harry's entire naked body ingrained in her memory.

She could see Aayla looking at her expectantly, but all she could do was shake her head and instead call out, "Harry, do you have another painting in there with you?"

"Huh?" Harry called back though his tone was distracted, not understanding the question.

"What's that voice?" Ahsoka asked again.

"Someone's out there?" The gravelly voice started sounding interested.

"Help me! This fiend has kidnapped me and keeps me imprisoned here!" The voice cried out plaintively.

"Oh stuff it." Harry's voice shot back.

"Oh, you wouldn't believe the horrible tortures he subjects me to!" The voice continued mournfully.

Ahsoka was torn between investigating and realizing that Harry was probably still changing in the room.

Aayla however hadn't seen Harry changing, so she pushed past Ahsoka to peer inside the passage, only for a piece of fabric to hit her square in the chest, that she reflexively caught in her hands.

Aayla was about to say something when the voice spoke again, only this time it was from the piece of cloth that was just thrown at her. "I'll say this is quite a step up from a dark room."

Aayla jerked back though she was still holding the piece of fabric. She stared down at the triangular brown fabric, only then realizing it was precisely where the voice had come from.

The fabric seemed to impossibly shift and the vague outlines of eyes and a mouth appeared in it. "I have no idea what you are, but I approve of your dress code."

Aayla held the piece of fabric as far away from herself as possible and the vaguely cone shaped item dangled in the air.

"Is that... the Sorting Hat, Harry?" Tonks' voice came from the portrait besides the passageway.

Harry ignored Aayla's bafflement with the hat as well as the portrait's comment when he came out. He definitely wasn't wearing the sort of outfit they were used to seeing him in. This wasn't the casual sweats, or even the nondescript traveling clothing he had had been prone to wearing.

Instead he had donned a black top and pants that an experienced eye could identify as some sort of animal hide. It also included a black cloak with a hood, though it wasn't pulled up at the moment, and boots that seemed to be made of the same material.

Ahsoka noted that his outfit seemed to glimmer slightly in the lines of the leather like animal skin. Her mind was instantly drawn to the black powder she remembered Harry using on their initial encounter in a bar. Her attention was drawn however by the fact that he was carrying something in his hands.

It was something that he tossed to her as he exited the hidden hallway, causing her to awkwardly catch it in surprise. She caught the main bulk of it but for one shoe and another small object that fell to the ground from the bundle. It took her a minute as she realized she was holding a top and a pants that looked to be of similar material to what Harry was wearing.

"Put those on." Harry said shortly.

"What? Why?" Ahsoka asked, holding up the garment he had tossed at her, her eyes trying to judge how close the size was to her own.

"You're going to insist on coming with me, and I accepted that. But what you're wearing is hardly protective." Harry replied shortly glancing down at her long expanse of legs and exposed midriff. "As pleasant as the view is… I'm not going to lose my apprentice because you're wearing even less clothes into battle than Blue is over there.

"It allows freedom of movement, and covering up isn't going to protect me from a blaster bolt." Ahsoka argued, though she couldn't keep the blush and the smile off her face on the comment about the view.

Harry just shot a look over his shoulder that he wasn't going to argue the case further before he walked away.

He passed Aayla who was looking at him, demanding an explanation for the piece of fabric she was holding. Harry shrugged and gestured at it, "You want to know about my world? The Sorting Hat might help you if you can get some answers from it." He didn't wait for a response instead heading down the row of shelving.

Aayla watched him go, and wanted to say something but there was something different about the way he was moving now. She tilted her head slightly, watching him go back towards the comm station they had left Shaak Ti at as she struggled to categorize the change she was seeing.

That's when hit her. This wasn't something 'new' from Harry. This was exactly how he had appeared when he dealt with the slavers back on Nar Shaddaa. There was little nonsense going on at the moment, and Aayla realized that Harry fully intended to fight in whatever conflict was about to occur.

Aayla glanced back at Ahsoka, and then at the hat she was still holding in her hand before she stormed after Harry, hat still held in her hand. She realized the answer he had given was entirely inadequate and misleading, as there was no way a filthy piece of cloth was going to tell him anything about his past.

"Harry, what the hell is this?" she demanded as she strode off after him.

"Potter, this one's got a pair of lungs on her. And, by Merlin, that's not the only pair she has! Not sure about the head tentacles… but hey… to each his own. They probably give you something to grab on to. Not that I know anything about that since I don't have hands," the voice said in the distance as Aayla stormed off with it.

Ahsoka hesitated as well, watching them both go, before once more looking at the bundle of things Harry had tossed her. She gave it a few experimental tugs to determine how flexible it was and found out it felt oddly peculiar. It wasn't hard and leather like, despite its look, instead it felt smooth, almost like hardened liquid moving through her fingers, if she had tried to describe it,

She debated arguing with him about it, and then reconsidered. He hadn't really set down any rules, and he clearly expected trouble. After another few second's consideration, judging the size of the outfit he handed her against her own size she finally shrugged slightly and began to strip out of her clothing, figuring if it didn't fit she could always tell him she at least tried.

Ahsoka slid into the dark pants without much problem, sighing a bit, as she suspected her legs were slightly too long and the waist was too loose to be held up without a belt. She debated not putting on the top and going out to argue with Harry but decided she wanted to at least be able to say she tried when she did.

She struggled a little bit getting her head through the top, while she did she noted that the inside of the garment was lined with odd silver colored designs. She could tell instantly it was too big as she tugged the loose garment to her waist.

However, the instant she pulled it down that far, the two garments seemed to come alive. She felt the Force suddenly cascade through them as they suddenly shifted, tightened, and became one unified outfit. A moment later she was standing there in a perfectly fitted outfit that covered her from neck to ankles and molded to her every curve.

It was certainly more protective than her previous outfit had been. But more than that she could feel the Force in the garment

The presence of the energy around her was soft and subtle, but it was a constant, like a light sheet of Force had been wrapped around her. She experimented a little bit, shifting and twisting at the waist and felt the outfit move with her as easily as her normal uniform. Moving with less doubt she slipped her feet into the boots and found them doing the same as the outfit.

She bent down to examine the other objects he had included, ones that had fallen when he handed it to her. One of them was a pair of fingerless gloves, ones that were stuck together until she tugged lightly at them, pulling them apart and then sliding her hands into. This time she reacted with less surprise as she felt them adjust subtly to her hands.

The final piece he had handed her was an odd circular object that she turned over in her hands trying to figure out what it was. It was circular, a few inches around, and had slight bulges on it.

"It's a wand holster."

Ahsoka started violently, and then looked up to see both paintings looking down at her. She blushed, having forgotten about their presence there while she'd stripped herself naked in the room. There was currently a evaluative expression on the pink haired woman's face as she stared down from the portrait. She looked down squinting slightly at it trying to determine how it might go on her belt.

The pink haired painting spoke up again, "It goes on your dominant arm and your wand goes into it for easy access and protection."

Ahsoka glanced up at the portrait in wordless thanks, and then held the holster up and pressed it against her arm, looking for the straps when she felt a slight surge of Force as it adhered there molding to the outfit, like everything else had done.

She reached down to her discarded clothes that contained her belt and the wand on top of it. She picked up her wand, one she had been holding in her hand or in a loop on her belt before she had changed. She held the wand up and tried to figure out how it attached to the holster and found it slid right into one of the small bulges that seemed to open as she put the wand close. An opening that enlarged to accommodate it and then closed after she slid it all the way in.

She frowned as she noticed that the holster had several little flaps that seemed to indicate more storage.

"Storage for other things you might need in a battle, potions, knives, and the like," the painting said in further clarification to her unasked question.

Ahsoka squeezed the holster in surprise, the wand she had slid in was far longer than the wrist holster. She tried experimentally to squeeze the wand back out, and panicked slightly when it seemed like it wouldn't be forced out easily. "How… how do I get it out?" She found herself asking.

"It's not hard, just jerk your hand slightly with the object you want in mind." Tonks instructed, showing the movement in the painting. A wand snapping into her hand much the same way.

Ahsoka jerked her hand as the painting demonstrated and her eyes widened as her wand slid right into her grasp.

"It was designed to snap out with easy use. Harry improved it so that other people weren't able to get it out without you being willing." Daphne explained with a genuine smile on her face. "It's also very protective. Harry put enough magic and enchantments into the few he made that they have withstood dragon fire."

"The easy way is to snap your wrist again, while thinking of returning it to send it back into the holster." Tonks explained without being prompted as she watched Ahsoka try and awkwardly slide it back in.

Ahsoka did as instructed and watched as the wand was sucked back into the pouch.

"Thank you." She looked up at the painting and then turned to rejoin Harry.

The other painting's voice stopped her.

"Wait…" Daphne's voice called out softly, in what was probably the kindest Ahsoka had heard the painting sound. "He called you his apprentice, is that true or was he making a joke?"

Ahsoka hesitated a moment. "I… uh… he was being serious." She answered, caught off guard by the sudden question and change of attitude from the normally aloof woman. Ahsoka was surprised when the portraits exchanged looks and then simultaneous expressions of relief flitted across the paintings.

"What?" She asked, feeling like she was missing something.

The portraits exchanged looks once more before Tonks nodded to Daphne, as if signaling that she was in agreement with the other woman to speak.

"In our culture, an apprentice is a close relationship," Daphne explained.

"That's what Harry told me last night, when he was explaining to me the apprentice bond thing and what it meant," Ahsoka replied.

"An… apprentice bond?" Daphne asked, her voice sharp. "You're sure he said 'Apprentice Bond'?"

Ahsoka frowned and nodded slowly, "Yeah, he did this thing where he made me see the F-, I mean magic. He showed me the bond. But said he had no idea what it did, except for letting me know what he's feeling, and vice versa. He said it wasn't intentional on his part."

"A true Apprentice Bond…" Daphne said, her voice soft, a hint of disbelief in it. She turned to look at the other painting.

Tonks on the other hand was nodding, looking unsurprised. She met Daphne's eyes.

"The Potter effect." The two voices said in unison.

"What?" asked a thoroughly confused Ahsoka.

"Just an old joke." Tonks replied, an amused laugh escaping her.

Daphne was faintly amused, though her expression turned serious once more. "It essentially means someone is declared as close as any family and usually includes adoption into the family, or as good as."

"So… Harry views me as a… what? An adopted daughter?" Ahsoka asked. There was a definite pang inside of her at that thought, a surge of emotion much like disappointment at hearing that.

"Not necessarily. Master-Apprentice relationships take on many forms, parent and child is one, but they can also be similar to best friends, lovers, spouses, siblings… the possibilities are varied, but it inevitably means a close relationship," Daphne explained. "It is ultimately, what the two of you make of it. When nurtured properly, it will last your whole lives."

Ahsoka blushed at some of the descriptions but then her brow furrowed looked back and forth between the two paintings obviously missing something.

"It's… been a very long time since Harry has had any sort of close relationships. At all. Unless you count Dobby and Hedwig. It hurts him, he's been so lonely whether or not he admits it." Tonks finally stated after an exchange of looks with Daphne.

"Harry has never enjoyed being alone. Like I told him earlier, he has a nature, I was talking about one thing. This is another. Being alone is definitely not in his nature." Daphne explained.

"But he has been for a very long time…" Tonks said, with a sad tone.

Ahsoka nodded a little bit. As a Togruta she understood, even if she was independent, there was a part of her that was still a fiercely social and group minded person. Even though she wasn't really raised among them, a part of her still craved the closeness of a family.

"If he took you as an apprentice it means he's letting someone in." Daphne said, a genuine smile on her face.

Tonks nodded in agreement. "Something he hasn't really done since the last of his contemporaries and all of our children passed."

Ahsoka debated asking for more details since they were sharing. But Harry's softly worded 'Thank you' from the evening before when she didn't immediately pry sprung to mind. Instead she resolved to get answers from him. She solemnly nodded. "Thank you for telling me."

The two paintings nodded as one.

Ahsoka turned to rejoin Harry, but was stopped for a few moments by Tonks calling out. "Please…" Her voice trailed off as she couldn't seem to figure out what else to say.

"Be patient with him… and while he will take care of you, take care of him too. He needs it." Daphne picked up the thread after a few seconds pause. "As apprentices are close relationships in our culture. Historically, there are small number that resulted in great betrayals when an apprentice betrays their master. It never ends well… for Master or Apprentice."

Ahsoka blinked several times as she processed that statement before nodding slightly and turning to leave the study room. There was a battle coming, and she needed to prepare.

oOooOoOOoOooOo

Ahsoka walked out back to the main area, turning over the painting's comments in her mind. The way they talked about Masters and Apprentices and betrayals, sounded very much like the Sith to her. Always an apprentice and a master until the apprentice overthrew the master. Ahsoka wasn't sure what to make of that similarity. Though she was also reminded that the paintings only said a small number of times regarding betrayals.

She wasn't sure what to make of that one way or the other; was it information she needed, a warning or some kind of threat from the painting?

More and more pieces of Harry's life were falling into place, but the picture refused to come into focus. She was going to have to take him up on his offer to ask more sooner rather than later. She was pulled from her thoughts as she came back out onto the main room, where a very miffed Aayla was alternately glaring between Harry and the conical piece of fabric that only resembled a "hat" in the loosest possible definition of "hat".

It took Ahsoka another moment to realize that Aayla was tapping her foot and no noise was coming out. She wondered what or why Harry felt it was necessary to silence her.

He seemed unconcerned at Aayla's mood at the moment and instead was focused on Shaak Ti intently.

Ahsoka also noted that the holocom call had ended.

"Their attack on a planet like this will vary depending on what their goals are. But since Salporin hasn't said anything about an aerial bombardment it has to be an occupation force. The sensor data he transmitted seems to bear that out." Shaak Ti was explaining to Harry.

Harry just nodded slightly, gesturing in the air with his hand for her to hurry up with whatever explanation she was providing, the explanation.

"Based on their deployment and these sensor readings, unless they're doing some massive cloak and dagger movements, strategy will have this as a three-pronged assault." Shaak Ti continued, her expertise on strategy having come to the for. "They'll send advanced scouts to the cities where resistance is likely to be high. These forces are disposable, their purpose is to keep the Wookiees busy from marshalling forces any one area for a defense."

Harry nodded again and didn't interrupt, Ahsoka realized that this might have been the first time he was listening to something one of the Jedi Master's said without interruption or argument.

"Because of the first distraction and skirmishing forces, the second prong will land nearly uncontested. and if they intend to land on the beach that will be a good area to do so. Both prongs will have air support." Shaak Ti explained, "I would guess that the mass of their occupational force lands there, and takes that city they'll have a solid foothold on this world."

Harry nodded without saying anything and looked at her expectantly.

She tilted her head in response to his wordless question, "What?"

"You said three prongs? what about the third?" Harry asked, with an air of impatience about him.

"Oh, the third is the fleet in space. They'll be there in case any message got off to the Republic or any support craft arrive before the droid army is entrenched. The Wookiees are not known for having the strongest space fleet, the Separatists will be much more concerned about resistance on the ground." Shaak Ti finished her summation.

"How many ships are we talking about here?" Harry inquired, his eyes narrowed.

Ahsoka looked at him oddly wondering why he was curious or what started this line of questioning.

"I am uncertain… perhaps a hundred and fifty? Almost certainly more than a hundred, but less than two hundred. Without sensor data from the surface it's impossible to guess. But Wookiees are hardly known for panicking or retreating from a city given a little or moderate challenge." Shaak Ti gave the matter some consideration. "Though I'm sure most of them will be transports for the landing troops or cruisers. There will probably only be one or two command ships…"

"Fantastic." Harry muttered rubbing a hand over his face.

Aayla began gesticulating wildly waving her hands and pointing to herself.

Shaak Ti glanced her way, "I've answered your questions, could you tell me what you've done to Master Secura?"

Harry nodded almost absently, "It was a silencing spell. It literally can stop all sound made by a person or an area. I had no interest in hearing her bickering with the hat." He waved his hand in Aayla's direction. and immediately sound came from her once more.

"-ate it when you do that!" Aayla was in the middle of barking out, while Shaak Ti was more than a little surprised.

"I told you she had quite the set of lungs on her." The Sorting hat added.

Harry held a finger up to the hat, in warning "Another irritating word from you right now, and I'll let my apprentice use you for incendio practice."

"I've spent enough time in silence, I don't need any more Mister Potter. I was only inquiring as to whether these were summoned demons, and what in Merlin's name you've gotten yourself into this time." The Sorting hat replied indignantly.

"Demons?" Aayla echoed.

"Succubus would be my first guess," The sorting hat bobbed slightly in a simulated nod of agreement. "Of course you could be something else… a botched self transfiguration or a polyjuice mishap perhaps."

"They're not demons. They're… another species, from another planet." Harry explained with a roll of his eyes. "They… no. You know what? You're the sorting hat. Have Ahsoka put you on if you want to figure out what's going on. I'm busy."

"No way, that thing's filthy. It looks like it's never been washed… ever. That's probably why its mouth is so dirty," said Ahsoka with a bit of revulsion.

"I'll have you know that -" the Sorting hat started.

"Could you argue with your laundry later?" Aayla demanded, interrupting the two, and then seemed to realize what she said.

She closed her eyes briefly and counted to fifty in her head before opening her eyes again and focusing on Harry, "Can you make one of your port things? We need to get to one of the cities to help the Wookiees as much as we can. They'll have to bunker down until the Republic is notified and can muster up the force for a counterattack.

"Does Salporin say how the ships are spread up there?" Harry asked ignoring the request poorly masked as a question.

Aayla let out a huff at being ignored, but Shaak Ti shook her head slightly. "Given that they're landing in one place, I would assume they are loosely gathered in one area of space to guard against a hit and run bombardment of their landing forces. Though they might be scattered farther apart to try and catch any ships that try to escape now."

Harry tilted his head back and stared at the ceiling of the warehouse. Ahsoka briefly thought that it looked as if he was trying to see through the ceiling and dense levels of canopy up to the stars hundreds of miles above them. His brow and lips kept twitching and Ahsoka could literally tell that he was trying to solve a problem, though not what he was actually thinking.

"An orbiting fleet. That's a new one for me." Harry muttered softly.

Ahsoka noticed curiously that Shaak Ti wasn't saying anything, and instead seemed to be watching Harry intently with a look of pure concentration.

Slowly his eyes narrowed and a ghost of a smile crossed his face. He moved past Aayla back to the comm unit, ignoring the speculative looks from all around him. He opened the connection. this time it rang several times and Harry's frown grew more pronounced with each ring.

Finally Salporin answered once more, but Harry cut the Wookiee off before he could say anything. "Salporin, I'm going to need clearance to get the _Gryffindor _into the air."

The Wookiee hesitated a moment before replying _"One ship isn't going to make a difference, and our defense force won't help. The king won't allow it. They're providing cover on the cities closest to Kachirho to allow evacuation." _

"I'm not planning on _assaulting_ them with my ship." Harry says flatly. "And you can go ahead and tell King Grakchawwaa that any ships he has out near where their forces land are probably as good as scrap."

Aayla and Shaak Ti's expressions both changed. Shaak Ti's turning neutral while Aayla can't hide her disappointment at the idea that Harry's fleeing. Though neither could argue that against a full scale invasion the Wookiee defense fleet would quickly be rendered scrap.

After Salporin responded that he would have clearance. Harry simply nodded and hung up on him. He immediately queued up another call, this one answered almost immediately with Minnie's droid head. "Minnie, power everything up I want to have the _Gryffindor_ out of atmo in 20 to 30 minutes."

"Yes Mist-"

Harry didn't even wait for a response and hung up again.

"Harry, you can't be thinking of just abandoning the-"

Harry didn't even glance up at Aayla before he silenced her again with a flick of his fingers. He paused a moment and then queued up another call. This one took several rings before it was answered.

This time a man answered the comm. It only took him a second to recognize Harry and he was entirely unsurprised. Shaak Ti and the now silenced Aayla exchanged a look at the person who appeared in the holo-screen.

"Harry." the man said by way of greeting.

"Kento. What are you and Mallie doing?" Harry responded with a similarly short greeting.

There was a soft and someone sheepish chuckle, "Currently? Arguing with my wife over which one of us is going to go into the forest depths and protect Galen and which one is going to help the Wookiees." His answer was dry and honest.

"Heh... I'm sure that's pleasant." Harry replied with a wry smile.

"We both agree that one should help the Wookiees and one take Galen and get to safety, but neither of us agree which is more dangerous or which one we should do." Kento replied once more bluntly. "Each of us think the other should take Galen and go."

There was an indistinct murmur of agreement behind Kento. Clearly Mallie was listening in on the conversation.

"Shocking," Harry replied with an equally dry tone, "I need a favor."

"You know I owe you our lives more than once… but now's not the best time…" Kento sounded more than a little hesitant.

"How about I solve your argument for you?" Harry replied with a wry grin.

"I'll give you my second born," Kento replied instantly.

There was an indignant gasp in the background that sounded distinctly feminine, followed by Kento jerking to the side forcibly. "Ow! That hurt woman!"

Mallie's face appeared in the holo next to Kento's who was rubbing his shoulder with a grimace. "Serves you right. Not only promising our next child, but risking it after Harry warned you about F-magic backed promises!"

She turned and smiled genuinely at the screen, ""Hey Harry."

"Hey Mallie," Harry replied.

"Never said thank you for the other day. You okay?" Mallie asked with more than a little concern in her voice.

"Oh you know me," Harry replied with a small grin.

Mallie rolled her eyes, "What favor did you need?" She asked taking over from her husband whose glare had softened to a look that while amused also clearly conveyed his adoration of the woman with him.

"I need someone to pilot my ship out of atmo," Harry replied honestly.

"Did you lose the ability to pilot?" Mallie asked curiously.

"Hardly," Harry replied dryly.

"You want one of us to pilot the ship and do what? You know there's… kind of a fleet out there right now." Kento replied with a raised eyebrow. "Not the safest place in the system to be right now."

"That's the point. You know my ship. You should be fine up there. I just want you to keep the fleet within sensor range… maybe move it around if I need it," He replied, "Oh, and don't accidently drive it into a star or something."

"Well, that rules out Mallie, she can't pilot a freighter," Kento responded with a glance at his wife.

Mallie huffed slightly but nodded slightly in acknowledgement, then she let out a sigh, "Fine, I'll take Galen and find out where the Wookiees are retreating to," She knew that arguing really wouldn't do her any good in this case.

Kento winced slightly at that, but nodded in acknowledgement.

"Mallie can come down here, my place," Harry offered to ease some of the tension and the worry the other man was experience. "You have my word that short of them cracking the planet in two, she will be safe. If the worse happens, I'll leave a portkey so that she can travel back to a few of the cities so she's not stuck down here."

Kento and Mallie turned to look at one another, their expressions only shifting slightly as the two communicated silently for several moments before they seemed to come to an agreement. Mallie spoke up for both of them. "Okay."

"What are you going to be doing?" Mallie added curiously after a moment.

"I'm… going to roll out the welcome mat," Harry replied with a smirk.

Kento regarded him silently for a few moments. "All right. Try not to get yourself killed. We're racking up quite a debt to you. It would bother me if you did something crazy that got yourself killed before we could call it even."

"Meh, you do this and we'll call it even." Harry replied without the slightest trace of concern. "Dobby will be there in a few minutes to get Mallie and your son."

Mallie regarded him silently a few moments before she nodded, "Thank you Harry… again," She said before slipping away from the comm unit.

"Dobby should be back to take you to the ship in a bit. We have less than an hour or so till landfall if the Wookiees' estimates are right." Harry replied.

"Understood," Kento replied, staring at Harry a few moments longer, and Harry raised an eyebrow expectantly. It wasn't until Kento glanced over his shoulder, clearly determining where his wife was before he turned back and spoke quietly. "No matter what you say, we're not even. This is just another one I owe you."

Harry just nodded his head in acknowledgement disconnecting the call before he spun from the comm device past a still silenced Aayla. He paused only a moment. "Dobby!"

Dobby popped in, "Yes, Master Harry Potter!"

The elf took one look at Harry's outfit and accompanying expression, and the being wilted a little bit with a sigh before straightening up, all manner of joking disappearing from his face.

"In a few minutes, I need you to get Mallie Marek and her son and bring them here. They have permission." Harry told him as he created a few portkeys for Mallie's possible use and set them out on a table, labels attached to each one. Dobby didn't question and simply nodded.

Then a bit of a mischievous grin crossed Harry's face. "Until then I need you to bring me every quidditch game set we have. Merlin knows I've got enough of the damn things."

Dobby tilted his head in confusion before he disappeared again. He didn't understand why but clearly he could tell it wasn't the time to question Harry given his mood and his expression. A moment later a trunk plopped down in front of Harry.

Harry didn't waste any time in opening it. "Huh, didn't realize I had so many." Harry snapped his wrist and a wand appeared in his hand as he pulled out a small trunk from the bigger trunk. He opened the small trunk and began to tap the inside with his wand.

"Harry?" Ahsoka asked tentatively, she could feel the Force moving as he manipulated with his wand.

"Talk later. I'm on a time crunch. They make landfall in…" He said brusquely, before he trailed off.

"Thirty minutes give or take…" Shaak Ti supplied after Aayla clearly made several attempts to do the same.

Harry nodded absently, the tip of his wand glowing over the matchbox sized trunk he had taken from the expanded trunk before he closed it and set it aside, pulling out another box and beginning to do the same.

Ahsoka couldn't contain her curiosity as she moved around his shoulder to at least see what he was seeing. In his hand was a small box that looked like it contained two… balls that seemed to be vibrating in the box and made of some sort of metal. It was those two that Harry was focusing his wand work on before he snapped the lid shut, setting the box down and picking up another one.

She looked up at him with a look of confusion on her face.

Harry's expression was one of concentration on his task, though it didn't stop him from grinning wickedly.

oOooOoOOoOooOo

They stood under the cover of a small tree, partially hidden by the foliage surrounding them. The two Jedi stared out at the beach and the plains right by it. The first ships of the invasion fleet had already made landfall, clearing an initial path for the massive force behind them.

But it was the grey and overcast sky that drew their attention, as lights from dozens of craft were descending slowly through the clouds. There were already some forces that had landed and the droids were clearly entrenching their positions.

Harry seemed to be ignoring all of it, he was simply stared out at the distance, to some undefinable point.

The girls were all very puzzled, though Ahsoka was watching him carefully.

Mallie and a disturbingly calm infant had arrived at Harry's home with little fanfare. Harry hadn't done any more than nod at her thanks. Before they had left Harry's retreat, he had given Dobby some very odd instructions.

"Dobby, do you remember the erm… third time you tried to save my life?" Harry asked

The little being had looked abashed and nodded. "Master Harry stole his Weezy father's car and drove to Hogwarts."

Harry frowned briefly, "That wasn't the third time that was the seco.. oh yeah. Letters, hovering charm, the boundary at the train."

He shook his head. "No I meant the fourth time."

"Master Harry Potter be asking Dobby never to save him that way again," Dobby said after nodding slowly. "Master Harry Potter did not like ending up in the infirmary."

"Right. Like I needed anyone's help ending up there," Harry said with disgust before shaking his head. "So. I want you to do the same thing, only this time out in space and with lots of ships. Lots more targets and lots more bludgers."

The house elf had seemed to need to think that over before he bounced slightly in glee, "Dobby can do that!"

The excitement in the house elf's voice had sent chills down the spine of the other three occupants of the room.

A few moments later, the little being had disappeared with the trunk containing lots of little trunks in tow.

Harry hadn't answered any questions, even to Ahsoka. Instead he had told them he was taking them to the surface, if they wanted to go the portkey was leaving immediately.

Harry had then used a plate and portkeyed Shaak Ti Aayla and Ahsoka to the edge of the forest near the city of Karchiho. Of course Shaak Ti had been completely disoriented and like Ahsoka and Aayla's first time, and had no frame of reference for having herself apparated. So unlike the other two the Jedi Master had actually thrown up upon arrival.

When she stopped heaving she looked up prepared to say something to Harry or defend herself from the expected joke, but they had then realized that he wasn't there with them. but Ahsoka could sense that Harry was moving about doing… _something. _Though she couldn't determine what, he was focused on it intently. His presence bounced up and down the coast, sometimes near and sometimes far.

He didn't join them until almost fifteen minutes later, Aayla had just made a comment about heading to the city, when Harry popped into existence next to them, with just a very soft crack.

"Harry!" Aayla jumped slightly spinning around, her now pink lekku whirling as she spun at this sudden arrival, "Where did you go?!"

Harry didn't answer her immediately, ignoring the sight of the invading army, instead looking at the ground until he found a rock the size of his fist. He picked it up and using his wand he sketched a series of markings around it, He then set it down on the ground and pushed down slightly so as to make sure it wouldn't move.

Ahsoka bent down to look at it more closely,

"Don't touch that," Harry said, his voice sharp.

She looked up at him quickly, careful not to get close to it, "What is it?"

He hesitated and looked down at her, and then an amused smile crossed his face. "It's a boundary rune. I had to go set a couple of others."

She furrowed her brow. "A boundary… for what?"

This time he chuckled a little bit. "You'll see."

He stepped past them and out to the edge of the foliage and stared out at the sight before. They had come to the perfect place. A location a few dozen feet above sea level and on a slightly risen root of a massive tree. Their location gave them a fantastic view of the scenic beach in front of them, and a perfect vantage point for the descending droid army.

"There's the main invasion force," Shaak Ti had stated quietly, watching the lights descend.

"They have to know there's no way the Republic won't respond to this," Aayla had said quietly. "No matter how entrenched they get here the Republic has to respond to this attack on the Wookiees."

"The question is whether or not we have the resources to if they get a significant foothold," Shaak Ti responded quietly.

Aayla had no response to that. She knew the Republic couldn't just come in and do an aerial bombardment if they controlled enough of the planet. They'd devastate Kashyyyk's ecology. And if the Separatists got enough of a foothold then the loss to Republic forces to take back the planet would be astronomical.

Ahsoka was watching him, now she wasn't feeling his conflux of emotions. She had no idea what he was up to or what he had planned. She was just feeling his steely determination to follow through on whatever he had decided to do.

However, despite his silence and unmoving form, first Shaak Ti, then Aayla, then finally Ahsoka felt it.

A build up of the Force.

It was slow, like a steadily rising pressure. At the same time a warm wind began to pick up as an unexpected storm front blew through the area. It was a crosswind, totally contrary to the gentle cool winds that carried the salty scent of the sea, that had reached them when they first arrived. They felt it all around them, as if the Force was starting to get excited, to bristle with anticipation.

He ignored the conversation Aayla and Shaak Ti were having, and only Ahsoka had made the attempt to speak directly to him. When she asked him what he was doing he had turned to her and stared intensely for a few moments before he had simply replied, "Something I swore to myself that I would never do again."

"They really intend to take this planet. That has to be the largest occupying force I've seen yet in this war," Aayla spoke quietly amongst the three women when she finally realized that Harry was not going to get drawn into an explanation.

"If they control Kashyyyk then they'll control the trade routes used by the Wookiees," Shaak Ti replied. "The Republic needs those routes too much to not counterattack as soon as they are able."

A voice cut in, one that hadn't spoken much in the past half hour, despite all of their attempts to coerce a response from the individual. "I doubt the trade routes are a motivating factor. They're merely a benefit."

All three turned to look at Harry sharply by his sudden entrance into the conversation. His look of intensity hadn't changed, though his brow had furrowed in a scowl as it looked to the distant horizon line where they knew the bulk of the enemy was even now on final approach to disgorge their troops.

"We fought off a slave culling when we arrived. Now the entire planet is under assault," Harry stated his voice flat, even as the line of droid ships became visible on the horizon

Their enemies were now definitely on the move towards the city. A twinge of concern rose in all Aayla's stomachs. They had no true cover, and the Wookiees would not have been able to marshal their forces in the city to repel this attack.

The anxiousness of not knowing Harry's plan here was beginning to boil over.

He continued to speak though, as if discussing the weather, "Now, we have an adversary present in orbit who has brought enough firepower to put down any resistance on the planet by firing at the main capitals."

"Instead though, they're positioning themselves in order to capture everything intact," Harry's voice was soft, and there was a decidedly dangerous quality to it now.

More and more of the landing ships began to fill the vista in front of them like a blot on the landscape. Harry stepped forward past the three women and they felt the wind pick up, as well as the sense of pressure building from the Force.

"Tell me, what is the true natural resource of Kashyyyk?" When none of them immediately responded, he answered his own question. "It isn't plants that can kill you… or the animals that live in the dark... that can also kill you…"

"It's too harsh of a world to farm anything that wouldn't be more commercially viable farmed anywhere else in the Republic." He continued to explain, as he took several steps out of the cover of the plants around them. "Any regime that wants to take over trade-routes that center on the planet merely needs to occupy the space the planet takes up, after wiping out all the inhabitants that would resist."

"That would create an outcry in many of the worlds currently aligned with the Separatists," Aayla interjected. "They would have a revolt in their own ranks if they did that."

"You're probably right. Maybe. Depending on how it was spun in propaganda," Harry conceded, "But that's not their goal either. The true natural resource of Kashyyyk lies in its people. The Wookiees themselves."

Aayla sucked in a breath of horror as it clicked with her first, the other two just stared at the back of Harry's head as he continued to move forward. Slavery was always something at the forefront of her mind, after the Order itself had been the one to extract her from the life of a concubine and pleasure servant at the age of four, just hours after her own parents had sold her into that life.

The wind began to pick up even further, even as the droid army continued to descend slowly from the heavens, beginning to land more and more craft on the beach in the miles in front of their area. Despite the fact that the army appeared completely unaware of their presence, the way it currently looked gave the appearance that the entire army was preparing to march directly at them. Unsurprising given their current location between the beach and the city.

Harry stepped forward again, his voice rising to call over his shoulder, but his attention seemed to be only half upon them, as the approaching army now earned more and more of his attention. "Check your own history. It's happened before. Large corporations. Conquering empires."

"Laborers capable of living Multi-century lifespan, combined with brute strength while being technical prodigies. Definitely a resource any despot would want at their beck and call," Harry's eyes narrowed, "Maybe you're right. They're hoping to cause a major drain on your Republic resources and a protracted draining battle. Maybe you're wrong and they're hoping for a quick subjugation of this planet."

"Whatever their goals…" Harry's voice trailed off for a moment before he lifted his head and straightened. "Today… they fail."

Harry's wand was in his hand once more as he stepped completely out from cover his cloak billowing in the wind.

Aayla was struck in that moment. The view she had was exactly the same as the one she had in one of her visions. Harry stepping forward, alone against a droid army. Only a moment later the image was shattered as Ahsoka moved to stand up beside him. She didn't know what was going on, but she wasn't going to just leave him alone to face the odds, even if there was nothing she could add at the moment but just wordless support.

He glanced over at her and a small smile crossed his face but he wasn't sure what to say, so he simply nodded in wordless… _was it approval or thanks?_ before turning to face the landing droid army once more.

Hundreds of ships descending simultaneously from the air above to land in the areas that had already been secured by the smaller forces ahead of them. The sky was practically filled with the ships as they slowly lowered to invade the Wookiee home world. The entire horizon, up and down the beach they stood upon, contained nothing but ships in the air.

It stretched for miles in either direction, only ending on the very edge of their Jedi enhanced vision. Most of the ships were multi-troop transports ready to offload squad after squad of droids on the beach, including several platoon attack craft skimming over the water setting up a perimeter around the beachhead they wished to form

Aayla counted more than three dozen familiar forms of C-9979 landing craft still descending from the sky to add more droid foes. To her own horror, she wished she wasn't so prodigious with numbers, as the idea of fighting 150 thousand droids and 4,000 tanks frightened her more than anything she had ever experienced, and that was all that she could see at this very moment. She knew to pacify a planet that this scene was repeating itself with just as many drop ships up and down the coast far beyond her current sight.

Idly, Aayla noted that it looked like the force was made up almost completely of droids. It didn't look like there were any bank or commerce guild troops among those landing. Though there were some command areas so the force wasn't entirely droid.

Time seemed to stand still for one brief shining moment to the two Jedi and one exile. The increasingly warm dry heat that was carried in the wind lost the scalding temperature that had been steadily rising, the overcast sky seemed to darken further and the sounds of the waters of the morning tide that lapped against the shores seemed suddenly muted.

The only thing that seemed active was Harry, as he began to murmur something. Harry began to wave his wand. His motions were totally ornate and smooth, quite unlike many of the haphazard gestures he seemed to favor. It wasn't just his wand that moved in a fluid motion, his entire body seemed to shift and move as he gestured to the sides, to no discernible effect.

Even with the enhanced hearing the Jedi had ears ten meters behind him couldn't make out the sounds of what he was saying, but they were distracted by the immediate disturbance of the Force around them as it continued to build into a crescendo unlike any they had ever experienced. It filled their senses utterly as it rose, almost blinding them to what their five normal senses were telling them.

Accordingly, the wind pushed even harder, causing the three to struggle to stand upright. Though Harry looked like he had little trouble remaining standing while he continued to move.

Then as suddenly as he had started, Harry stopped moving and raised his arms, spreading them wide and gesturing up and down the shoreline. As if that were some pre-arranged signal, the buildup of the Force stopped at an apex, and the wind that had been blowing ceased immediately, leaving nothing but the distant sound of crashing waves and repulsorlift engines.

Finally, even as the movements of his arms had stopped, his head bowed in supplication, as if he had just invoked some primal force that required worship. After a moment's pause, and what all could clearly hear as a deep breath, he lifted his head and spoke clearly for the first time since he had started murmuring.

The three women behind him would forever swear they were sure his voice could have been heard for miles.

"_Agni Incaendium!" _

For just a moment nothing happened. There was absolute and utter silence.

And then an explosion of Force. They all felt it pass over them so intensely they felt like they were bathing in it and barely managed to stay on their feet as wave over wave of pure Force power buffeted them.

In the clouds above them, a glowing circle over one hundred meters across appeared, visible to anyone who so much as glanced at the sky for miles around. The droid army could see the unprecedented event before them the same as anyone else. Their programming seemed to not know how to handle such an occurrence, and the attack force halted immediately as it waited for orders on how to proceed.

Along with the glowing circle came a loud booming sound, from which a brilliant sapphire flame shot down into the open air.

The two Jedi and one former Padawan could only stare at the ball of fire as it began to change shape..

The blue fire took the form of horses leading chariots and immediately engulfed one of the C-9979 transports in the air. The fire went over and around and completely obscured the transport for a full ten seconds before moving on, vectoring toward another. Leaving behind a blackened and twisted wreckage that was now tumbling out of the sky.

The attention of the women was drawn back to the sky as another patch of the clouds turned into a glowing circle before exploding downward in fire, only this time the fire was an ruby red.

They heard him whisper the words again somehow, and the Force responded each time with another roar of colored fire that descended.

Then another… then another

Over a dozen of the circles forming just within their line of sight alone, and Harry kept speaking the words, even when there was no visible effect upon the beachhead around them.

The brilliant flames, in both colors, but also in a variety of bizarre forms that the women didn't recognize, went in seemingly random directions. Some hitting the ships that still hovered in the air and some plunging right for the ocean's surface and engulfing the ships that skimmed the surface of the turbulent waters, waiting to land, while still others scoured up and down the paths of the beach, engulfing entrenched droid emplacements there.

The droids took nearly thirty seconds to react to this attack, especially as they were not expecting it. There had been no sign of an approaching attack force so they could not pinpoint the origin point.

Some of the transports tried to flee the flames only for the flames to shift directions as well and give chase.

Some of the ships attempted to fire on the flames. The attacks did absolutely nothing to the flames, passing through like they weren't even there. Several ships fell to friendly fire as turbolaser blasts impacted other ships in the area adding to the chaos and destruction.

As more fire filled the sky, Harry began to move his arms. With the wand in his hand he looked like a demented conductor of the chaos in front of them, with the colored fire his responsive and attentive orchestra.

The two Jedi behind him could only stare, frozen in a state of pure astonishment. Ahsoka beside him kept looking back and forth between Harry and the fires in front of them. All the while they were swamped by the magic in the air as it seemed to claim the area for its own.

It had been merely a minute since he uttered the conclusion of the first spell, and half of the droid occupation force lay in stationary and smoldering heaps amongst the oceans and beaches of Kashyyyk. They could only assume that, up and down the coast beyond their sight, the scene had repeated itself.

Elsewhere, the sudden shattering of the relative calm natural state of the Force had not left those who felt the shift as unmoved.

oOooOoOOoOooOo

Yoda, Grand Master of the Jedi, was making his way through the Jedi Temple. He was walking slowly with his gimer stick as a cane and nodding to different Jedi as he passed them.

Events of late had been troubling to him. Fractures in the Order always present and easy to alleviate, were splitting open almost faster than he could move to mitigate their repercussions.

Some of the Order's flaws, only noticeable to those few amongst the highest echelons of leadership, had been foisted bluntly into the public's eye, without anything that would even remotely lessen the revelation of the ugliness of the truth.

It was a fickle thing, sometimes, leading a group of essentially volunteer peacekeepers in an effort to truly serve the greater good without compensation or recognition

The few times such recognition did happen, despite the Orders best efforts to curtail it, such as with Anakin Skywalker, it often caused others who had accomplished just as much but out of the limelight to begin to feel the stirring of emotions that were best left outside of the life of a Jedi. The decision the Council had made the other day regarding Anakin just highlighted this.

With all the meetings, discussions, and work needed to at least set the proverbial great ship right again, it was a relief when he found himself once again in the company of the future of the Order by his regularly scheduled classes with the groups of young initiates.

He had just finished instructing a group of younglings with training sabers. They were learning the very basics of trying to sense the remote moving through the air. Of course it was somewhat eventful as one of the younglings who showed some promise and almost no ability to hold himself back had gotten a little over eager and had managed to hit three other younglings with the training saber in one sweep.

Over 800 years of training Jedi, and he had long ago learned that there was always one in each group.

Yoda had just entered the elevator to take him back to his private meditation room when he felt it.

The Force… had not just trembled… or had a disturbance. No the Force itself was letting loose a cry of exultation? Of freedom? It was as if the Force, which they trained to hear the softest whispers was suddenly an entire instrumental line playing loudly and triumphantly.

His eyes widened in shock and his hand pressed against the wall to brace himself as he felt the Force rumble through his body in a way he felt down to his very core.

In over a thousand years, he had never experienced anything close to the tremors in the Force that had just washed over him.

It took all of his efforts to not go with his first instinct and attempt to blunt the impact of the energies as it slammed into his heightened senses. Instead, he painfully allowed himself to open up even more to the reverberations that he knew were echoing across the galaxy

A wave of power that he intended to follow his senses to the source… but his attention was diverted almost immediately.

It was then, only for one brief shining moment that he felt it. The red and angry aura of a Sith.

The enemy was close.

Closer than Yoda had ever dreamed the adversary could be

If Yoda didn't know any better, he would say the Dark Lord that had declared war on the Jedi from the Shadows was not only on Coruscant at that very moment, but was within a few short kilometers of the Jedi Temple itself.

The revelation was short, as the Dark Lord shored up whatever method he used to hide himself from the Jedi, but the momentary lapse granted them something they had never before had.

It was enough to let Yoda draw numerous conclusions on their long-hidden and slippery foe.

Chief among them was that the Sith close by was _powerful._

But many of those conclusions would come later. After all, it was only a second into the veritable Force Storm that had somehow been unleashed, and now he needed to ride this out before he could do anything with what he had just learned.

One fact Yoda knew instinctively, the Force that he had felt and served for a millennia was changed and would never feel the same way again.

**oOooOoOOoOooOo**

Chancellor Palpatine was having a meeting with several Senators via holonet. He was speaking with three representatives who were seeking reassurances on a tax bill related to the war.

It was one of many measures he had lined up to pass prior to his ascension to Emperor

It would allow him as Emperor to, when pressed by adversaries he couldn't simply kill or make disappear, assure others that he had by no means raised taxes or introduced new curbs on liberties over what they had enjoyed under the previous corrupt and useless regime.

He would in fact roll back these measures slightly if possible in some cases. What was left unsaid in the meeting was that the tax hike was over 100% more than what was actually needed at present.

Long experience had him keep his friendly and open demeanor with ease, as he discussed the most recent tax proposal. Through long practice and experience, no trace of his true feelings as he spoke with the subhumans leaked through.

Palpatine had little trouble keeping his demeanor friendly, he had been very pleased for several days now. He worried about tipping his hand too much with the Jedi. But after the recent fiasco regarding the Jedi traitor, one publicly broadcast across the Republic, along with reports of bounties being placed on the head of Jedi and several timely complaints from various business interests in Hutt space, he had been able to move up his plan to further cement his control over Anakin Skywalker.

Expressing to the Jedi Council that it was a way for him to stay aware of the things happening and that he represented the people's interests had been the tipping point. He was aware that Master Yoda and Master Windu both were very displeased at the interference, but that they also agreed to his request. No doubt to keep a closer eye on him, the Jedi were so easy to read when they tried to manipulate things.

They couldn't have acted any more favorably for Palpatine if he had scripted it himself. They had allowed Anakin as a Chancellor's representative, but had been very petty in denying him the simple respect of being called a Master. Palpatine barely had to nudge events and they were driving the boy away from them and into his control.

It was that same experience that had him quickly terminate the entire transmission with the press of a button before he let the shock show on his face as the Force suddenly swarmed over him, with an angry roar, briefly breaking every hold he had on the techniques that kept him hidden from the eyes of the Jedi while simultaneously blinding them from their own senses.

He had no concern for the meeting, nor of the effects it would have on his short-term list of goals to accomplish. He would simply blame an equipment malfunction later. His hands braced on the desk as he felt the Force continue to not only wash over him, but bombard him in almost a tangible attack.

Somewhere, someone had utilized the Force in a massively complex and undeniably _powerful_ manner.

He had never felt something like this in his life. The amount of power that had just shot through him left his entire body numb as he re-established his own protections that kept him hidden from the senses of the Jedi. It was as if the entire Force was roaring with vigor.

There was a new player on the board.

Someone who did not serve the dark side.

Someone who previously had not been foreseen by his sight at any point before now.

Someone who had not been taken into account when his plans to dominate the Galaxy had been made.

It was a spiritual, emotional, and metaphorical bomb that had gone off in the Force.

By the way the tremors affected him personally, it showed Palpatine that this new player had made a move on the board, and had likely taken a number of his own pieces down without his knowledge they were even vulnerable in the first place.

His own Master would've called this failure to anticipate, see, and account for this eventuality as weakness. If there was anything he hated, it was weakness. Weakness had to be purged by the fires of the Dark Side, turning the cleansing into a victory for himself.

The problem though, loathe as he was to admit it, was that he had no idea where to begin.

But he had never, in his life felt the Force _move_ on such a vast scale and had no idea just how it was accomplished.

Palpatine knew that somehow, the very nature of the Force had just shifted on its axis, even if he didn't understand _how_ or what the implications were. At least not yet.

He would need to find out who and what had caused this and he needed to know _immediately._

**oOooOoOOoOooOo**

Mace Windu was meditating alone in one of the darkened meditation rooms. As he so often found himself doing, he had been trying to feel the currents of the Force for any glimpse, however brief, it might give him of the paths of the future.

Learning that Aayla Secura and Ahsoka Tano of all people were able to experience a true Force vision, when none of the other members of the Order sans Master Yoda were capable of such a thing anymore had been a massive blow to his ego.

Still, it was a bit of hope that they could push back the Darkness that threatened to overwhelm his brothers and sisters a bit more every day.

He just needed to remain vigilant, and prepare himself for whenever the Force did manage to find a way for him to pierce the shroud that blanketed his senses.

All of a sudden that shroud he tried to pierce with such futility was abruptly jerked back, and Mace abruptly found himself staring a bright and overwhelming light that swamped over him and overwhelmed his senses in moments.

It was such a shock to his system, that he cried out as it overwhelmed him.

He had never experienced anything like it and the last thought he had before he lost consciousness was that someone had done _something_ to the Force, and it had fundamentally changed.

**oOooOoOOoOooOo**

Obi-Wan Kenobi was standing with Master Plo Koon and Anakin Skywalker. They were currently on one of the command vessels en route to Rothana. An emergency signal had come in saying the planet was under attack by Separatists forces. Most concerning was that the attack was being led by _The Invisible Hand, _General Grievous' personal command ship.

It had interrupted their original mission which was to support the effort to once more retake the hyperspace trade routes near Sullust. They had made minimal progress in the area, though the Separatists hadn't reinforced their forces there much either.

They had been forced to divert their course to Rothana with all haste. They had been close to Rothana and were simply in transit when they had gotten the message. But even at top speed though their position was nearly an hour and a half.

The three Jedi were discussing strategy on their counter offensive with one of the clone troopers, when they were interrupted by the sudden attack in the region. Though it was fair to say Obi-Wan and Plo Koon were talking. Anakin was barely paying attention. Obi-Wan knew his former padawan was still frustrated and more than a little resentful of the Council, given what he had viewed as his recent humiliation.

The discussion immediately stopped when all three Jedi felt it at the same time.

Obi-Wan leaned his weight forward against the table as he felt the wave of the Force. For just a moment it was like his senses were all opened wide. More than anything he sensed the emotions from the Force users around him. He could sense distress in those most sensitive or unprepared as they tried to cope with it.

He fell to his knees and held his hand to his head trying to brace himself from the sensory overload.

Anakin Skywalker wasn't much better off.

He had been barely paying attention as they discussed strategy with one of the troopers. His thoughts were elsewhere so he was only barely staying aware, occasionally nodding or murmuring his agreement as the other two Jedi Masters carried the conversations.

His mind was in two different places, neither of which was with the concern over the trade routes near Sullust.

He was worried about his errant Padawan, he still couldn't think of her as anything else. He knew she was still upset with the Order but he had believed she was going to return sooner rather than later.

He wondered where she was and what she was doing and most of all if she was safe. He had almost disobeyed the council to go off on his own searching for her.

He was frustrated with the Council for sending Aayla Secura off to get her. He didn't have anything against the Jedi Master.

He was just better.

A point highlighted when she'd gotten her Jedi fighter blown up.

He would argue that he was the best suited for this mission. Not only at surviving but also best equipped at finding her.

He had only been talked down by Padme, who managed to talk sense into him despite her own concern for the girl. However even Padme could not talk him down from wanting to confront this Force-using bounty hunter and pull Ahsoka away from his influence.

He trusted Ahsoka, but he also knew the Trial had probably destroyed her equilibrium. It was probably why she fell in so easily with this Harry person.

But even that was now secondary to his other thoughts. He was currently stewing and nearly as angry as he had ever been. The only other time he could remember feeling even close to this amount of anger was when his Mother had been killed.

Just yesterday, the Chancellor had given him the most fantastic news. He was naming Anakin as his personal representative on the Jedi Council. Anakin had been overwhelmed at the news. He hadn't told anyone, but when his padawan had left the Order, his thoughts of becoming a Master had been set back _years._ He knew no one would say it to his face but he was aware of several other masters and Jedi had been pleased at his sudden bout of misfortune.

This news suddenly lifted him back up. Chancellor Palpatine had trusted _him._ Not only that, but he had expressed some concerns about the Order that Anakin himself had thought before. He had pointed out that the Order needed him. Given how many casualties and deaths the Order had experienced in this long war, Anakin couldn't argue. They did need him.

However when it had been presented to the Council, they had rebelled… sort of. He wasn't sure who it was who made the decision but he thought it was likely to be Mace Windu who had made little secret of his wariness of Anakin. The council had allowed him on the High Council but had denied him the title of Master.

It had never been done in history and was a blatant slap in the face. Anakin was on the Jedi High Council, and wasn't even given the appropriate title of Master. A title he felt he had rightly earned. The Chancellor had been right, they were being petty and jealous of his ability and his fame.

Then to add insult to injury, the Council had the _gall_ to ask him to spy on the Chancellor. As if that was the only reason they allowed him on the Council. Even his former Master, Obi-Wan Kenobi was in on it as he had been the one to approach him with the assignment. One the Order did not even want to have a record of. Apparently Palpatine was right and there were some Masters who clearly felt they were above the Republic and the man who had guided the Republic through the tumultuous times during the war.

Anakin had no idea how to tell the Chancellor, someone he considered a mentor and friend that he had been instructed to spy on him.

These thoughts had distracted Anakin from the conversation Obi-Wan and Plo Koon were having. But that train of thought was shattered out of nowhere, when he felt a wave in the Force. A disturbance far more powerful than anything he'd ever experienced, causing him to stagger, and only managed to keep from falling to his knees like Obi-Wan by bracing himself on a nearby wall as wave after wave of power washed over him.

He had no understanding or comprehension of what it was, even as he staggered toward the other two Master's to check on them in the event that it was some sort of attack even though it didn't feel that way.

His entire body was on sensory overload, Anakin would struggle to put it into words, but it was suddenly like everything was _more. _He could sense things all around him and was suddenly awash in feelings, and Force currents. It was as if the entire Force had come alive.

A small part of Anakin felt like he _recognized_ the feeling… like some long forgotten memory he couldn't place.

**oOooOoOOoOooOo**

Count Dooku was onboard a command ship he and had just set down to a richly prepared dinner. The centerpiece of the meal was a piece of Moonglow, prepared on Coruscant, and actually flown through the blockade to arrive on his plate. The fruit itself cost enough credits to feed a family for a year, and the cost to ship it after it had been properly prepared by a trained Moonglow Chef was easily twenty times that.

He had just taken the first bite with slow relish and suddenly started choking as the food went down the wrong pipe because of the sudden jerk of his body as he felt the wave of Force wash over him.

He pounded his fist on the table as he alternatively coughed to try and dislodge the offending morsel and gasped desperately for breath, finally managing to spit the offending morsel across the table and take in several deep lungfuls of air.

Even as he heaved for breath, he tried to make sense of this giant detonation in the Force. It was profound in its scope, and Dooku fancied that he could practically feel its judgment descending upon him and finding him wanting.

It was only a few moments after the Force wave ended that he pushed away from the table, intent on getting in contact with his Master immediately.

Whatever it was that had caused such a thing, whether it was a Sith weapon such as the Force Harvester, or a being or beings of such power. They would need to be claimed and utilized by the Sith or destroyed. He needed to find out what his Master knew. He had made no mention of it and wondered what that might mean.

**oOooOoOOoOooOo**

She was attempting to meditate as her ship took her towards Nar Shaddaa. She had grudgingly accepted Dooku's mission to track down some slicer and retrieve him.

Of course, she would first discover everything the slicer knew so she would be aware of exactly why Dooku wanted them so badly. She knew it was unlikely to be a completely pointless mission unless he just intended to have her killed. Such a possibility always existed with her 'Master', so she was sure to always plan multiple escape routes and contingencies on every mission she accepted from the old man who had ruined her life even further than it already was before he got his hands on her head.

The mission would likely be problematic, regardless of whatever betrayals the Sith had planned for her this time on a mission. She was not unaware of the turmoil around Jedi on the Hutt moon. So she knew she would have to have her guard up at all times.

Her thoughts were interrupted as she abruptly felt the Force smash over her, causing her to gasp out loud. She closed her eyes trying to concentrate her anger to push it away but it was no use. If anything the wave of Force washing through her was even more forceful when she tried to embrace the false anger which Dooku's cerebral implants enflamed within her mind..

Assajj Ventress had never felt anything like it before in her life, it was as if the Force was pressing on her, judging her and finding her wanting.

She found herself curled on her side as the wave of the Force passed. She slowly pushed herself up and put her fingers to her brow. She had never felt a disturbance of that magnitude in her life. Even when around Dooku, someone she resolved never again to refer to as Master, at least in her own mind, he had never displayed such power.

She thought about contacting Dooku to find out if he knew about the disturbance, when she stayed her hand. She was not responsible for what he did or did not know about. Besides, a disturbance that large, there was no doubt he was aware of it just the same as she was.

From looking at the chronometer, she knew the old fool would likely be eating his dinner. She could only hope he choked on it. Maybe, just for once, the Force would grant her a boon and allow the old man to die face first in his expensive food.

Pushing aside that enjoyable preponderance, she realized he might not have knowledge of what caused the disturbance. Ventress resolved to do her own investigating to see if she could figure it out. Maybe whatever it was would be the leverage to finally kill Dooku, and place her closer onto the path of her ultimate goal to kill _his_ Master as well.

**oOooOoOOoOooOo**

Masters all over the galaxy halted their actions, or were abruptly forced to stop because of the massive break in concentration the disturbance caused.

Some to disastrous results.

Master J'oopi Shé was piloting his Jedi Fighter into dock on a ship when the wave hit. He was concentrating on attempting to land when his entire body jerked from the wave of magic. The sudden spasm caused Master Shé to suddenly drive forward and crash his fighter into the docking bay. Rescue troops took almost four minutes to retrieve the Kadas'sa Nikto Jedi Master from the fighter. They succeeded but not before the Jedi had received severe burns and a large head wound that would cost him his eye, even with the protective ridges around his face.

Master Tre'Jin was attempting to scale a cliff at his newly assigned post. He had gotten a few dozen meters above the ground only to tumble to the icy cold ground with a cry of shock. His legs broken from the fall and improper bracing. He sent off an emergency signal to his clone troop scouting party, knowing they would take a few hours to get to him. He was just glad it was daytime and that there was no life on the wretched iceball of a planet. He was sure somehow this was Skywalker's fault.

It wasn't just the Jedi Masters that felt it though. Almost all the Jedi padawans, and even most of the younger initiates and children felt it to some extent. It elicited mass confusion and chaos wherever it went sending most of them with their questions to Masters who had no more answers than they did.

**oOooOoOOoOooOo**

Every single member of a single species, most located on a barely populated forest planet used by smugglers as a haven, suddenly lifted their heads and cried out as the wave watched over them, causing them all to feel something they had not since the animal had evolved certain defensive characteristics. When the wave passed, the sub-sentient species instinctively knew they were _changed. _

**oOooOoOOoOooOo**

A light haired woman was meditating on her small freighter as it hung in space. The freighter had been drifting here, for several months, away from most space lanes and away from places she was likely to be stumbled over.

She was seeking guidance in the Force as she so often did.

Of late it hadn't given her any guidance… since her experience at Quetya she had not been guided anywhere. It was most disconcerting for her, to always be so close to the Force and not having it guiding her anywhere.

It was like the Force wasn't ready for her to go anywhere. Like it wanted her to just wait. She understood that sooner or later she would be given direction. However it was a little frustrating, since she knew she could be out among the populations of the stars doing good for different people who needed it.

But if there was one thing she had learned in her long life it was patience. Her thoughts were clear and like she had been doing for the past few months since her near death or death experience, she was reaching out deeply to the Force and communing with the shrouded element that guided her life…

...and then she felt it.

The Force grabbed her and surrounded her. There were few other ways to describe the sensation. For millennia, the Jedi had preached that the Force both surrounded and penetrated its practitioners. The feeling she suddenly experienced was more akin to being dunked in liquefied 'Force' and staying submerged in its joyous embrace. She felt it in the very fiber of her being, and the uniqueness of the event was nearly intoxicating. The Force was practically _singing _in exulting chorus over something that had just occurred.

Her grey eyes snapped open wide and she gasped as the connection broke due to her shock. She _recognized_ the Force user doing it. It was _him._

She slowly put her hand to her chest and slowly rubbed her fingers back and forth. Underneath the fabric of her jumpsuit, a small, circular scar remained from that day. A permanent personal reminder of the cauterized hole that had been there because of the lightsaber that had been stabbed through her. The feeling of loss as she realized her long life was ending.

Her final sacrifice of the remainder of her life's Force energy to another Jedi, in order to save the lives of millions. The way he had reluctantly left her.

The embrace of the Force as she slowly became one with it as her body finally succumbed to an injury that was too much for her...

...and then the sudden vivid feeling from him as a complete stranger appeared. His power filling her just at the moment her spirit was about to leave her body. The way her body had filled with the Force, much like it was now, to heal her wound and bring her back from the brink.

The only thing she remembered was his vividly green eyes and something he muttered about his "stupid saving people thing" before she lost consciousness. She regained consciousness on her ship, without a trace of the mysterious Force user. One she needed no help in knowing he was not a Jedi.

She jerked herself from her memories and was out of her meditation room in a sprint, moving the short distance to her cockpit to get her ship in motion and track the source. She could sense him now. Whatever veil hid him previously from her senses was gone, and she would not lose his trail again.

**oOooOoOOoOooOo**

For just a moment, elderly eyelids forced their way open. It had been so long since he had been in control long enough even to do that much. The man was completely bald and hairless, and was suspended in yellow liquid, held by a tube of clear transparisteel, leaving him on display for the empty and dark room he sat in. The man was completely naked save for a single item which couldn't be removed from his person no matter what the droids, technicians, and guards tried.

The strength to briefly overcome the drugs permeated him, and a formerly insensate man regained the barest glimmer of consciousness. The power was familiar to him. The limited bit of awareness was enough for his mind to register he was in some sort of liquid before blearily looking around through the haze around him and that every part of him hurt.

However the triumphant return of control to his body was short-lived, as the machines connected to him recognized within moments that there was a change in his condition, administering potent drugs designed to keep him subdued and unconscious.

The machines only recorded a brief raise in the amount of drugs to account for his rise to consciousness.

**oOooOoOOoOooOo**

An ancient being had slumbered, hidden and ensconced in a place undisturbed and untouched by any mortal since time immemorial. Numerous ripples had been sensed by it since it had last truly made its presence known to the lower life forms. The being had stirred occasionally, but none had truly gained the attention of the being since long before the children who now played with the basics of powers the ancient entity had mastered had organized themselves into factions. Powers the being had limited and restrained for the good of the galaxy.

But now, it felt the wave as the cosmos reacted to someone truly using _magic _unrestrained but controlled and guided on a scale that _mattered for_ the first time since the being had put down roots. The ancient being had done so believing there was no longer anyone in the galaxy worthy of understanding and appreciating the being's greatness but also a challenge to subjugating with the entity's power.

For a brief moment the being considered that it was time to truly awaken and re-emerge. But in its brief moment of true consciousness it decided instead to wait, to see what might happen now that magic had been freed in a manner in which it had not been in far too long.

**oOooOoOOoOooOo**

All of these reactions paled in comparison to the three Jedi who were watching. The fires stretched out in the sky and beyond even the Jedi's enhanced sight as it darted along the beach and the sky seemingly intent on hunting down each intruder to this planet. Harry's movements slowed as the different individual fires combined to make ever larger ones.

Finally there was a single remaining fire, hundreds of meters tall made up of the blue and red fire, though still shaped like a man in a horse drawn chariot. The flames got more intense as the figure shrunk until it was about twice as tall as a normal human.

The intensely burning flames slowly approached Harry. As it approached all four could make out details among the mostly red and blue inferno. It had as much detail as the finest carved statues. Two quadruped animals that only Harry recognized as horses, leading a chariot carrying a bulky figure whose outline seemed to be armored and holding a spear.

It stopped in front of the stone Harry had set down. The runes on which glowed with energy of their own. The figure made no attempt to pass the stone and seemed to, stared at him for several seconds. Harry stared back without moving. The fiery figure inclined its head forward slightly, a slight bow in a gesture of respect. It was a movement that Harry matched exactly, bowing forward slightly as well before straightening up.

The being turned slightly and seemed to regard Ahsoka with the same examination, and Harry stiffened with a quick intake, before letting out a breath when the figure turned its head back to Harry and bowed its head once more. This time it didn't wait for Harry to reciprocate before the bright flames turned into a red and blue spiral that disappeared in a matter of moments.

When the flames disappeared Harry let out another breath of air and his rigid pose relaxed as he took a deep breath of the naturally warm Kashyyyk air.

The three Jedi stared out at the vista, now without the flames everywhere. They could only gape at the sight that was left behind on the 'battlefield' such as it was.

The droid army wasn't just decimated, it was _gone_.

Not that there wasn't any trace they had been there. Various burnt out wreckages sat smoldering on the ground and along the beach in front of them, and there were a few pieces that were in the water that were still sinking. There was even one hulk of a ship that was partially submerged in water and slowly lowering.

The traces of smoke that remained in the air a clear testament to little fires that were still burning in the different bits of wreckage. Though these were subdued and seemed to have sparked from different bits of machinery after the flames Harry summoned departed.

The entire army was nothing but burnt out hulks of slag.

"Harry." Ahsoka breathed carefully. Her voice held a great deal of awe more than a trace of uncertainty.

Harry finally turned to face her. His hair was a bit damp and he looked somewhat weary, at least physically. But the expression on his face was a wide smile, and his eyes were bright. As if he wasn't under some unknown pressure that he had been since he had met her.

There was very little sign that he had just used more Force energy than any of them had ever seen. No sigh of exhaustion. Instead, if Ahsoka had to describe it, she would have said he looked invigorated instead.

"It's been awhile since I did something that big," Harry mused as he turned away. He took a step farther out to the beach, searching the sky for any ships that he might have missed.

"Harry, what was that?" Aayla asked with disbelief in her voice.

Harry grinned and winked at her, "Magic, Blue… simply magic."

His grin faltered a moment later as his head suddenly whipped up to look above them. "Oh shit. Dobby's out there by himself."

"I'm leaving Kashyyyk for Nar Shaddaa, you can stay here or go, but choose now," Harry snapped quickly, not even looking there, as he looked skyward once more.

Ahsoka didn't even need to hesitate stepping immediately up to him. She wasn't leaving him, it wasn't even an option in her mind. She saw the brief look of relief flash in his eyes, and she realized that he had been worried that he had scared her. That gave her a small jolt of pleasure. Not that he had been worried, but that he had been worried about scaring _her_ specifically.

Aayla hesitated only a moment, before stepping up to in agreement, she was curious what it was that was drawing him back to Nar Shaddaa. She turned and looked at Shaak Ti who seemed the most uncertain. Aayla couldn't feel emotions from Harry but knew that he wasn't going to wait more than a few more moments to make up her decision.

She quickly mentioned to her, "Aside from whatever damage the advance scouts did, there's nothing more to do here… and we can always call and make our report from Harry's ship."

Shaak Ti regarded Aayla for a moment before her gaze shifted to Harry who was peering with narrowed eyes up at the sky. "Mister Potter, did that invitation extend to me?"

Harry's attention was drawn to Shaak Ti at the question, after a moment's hesitation, he shrugged, "Sure, it's not like what I just did was subtle or anything."

Shaak Ti winced slightly, understanding the implication of what he had just said. He was still suspecting her like he had been Aayla, thinking she was a spy, determined to evaluate him and his uses of the Force. Unfortunately, Shaak Ti reflected, she couldn't deny the description since that was part of what she was doing.

She stepped forward next to Aayla with a shudder, preparing herself for another portkey journey.

She was surprised when Harry slid an arm around Ahsoka's shoulders, pulling her against his side, to which Shaak Ti's enhanced hearing picked up a slight squeak of surprise, but she definitely didn't miss the blush on the girl's face or the smile that followed. Harry placed the hand on that arm on Aayla's shoulder and the other hand on her shoulder and then closed his eyes. They disappeared from the planet's surface with a pop.

**oOooOoOOoOooOo**

The group of four appeared in what Ahsoka recognized as the hold of the _Gryffindor_. Once they landed Harry separated from the three of them, something which caused Ahsoka to be more than a little bit disappointed. Harry seemed to take no notice as he gave them each a onceover as if making sure they all made it in one piece.

Other than Shaak Ti's expression, which wasn't as bad as when they had portkeyed, but was still clearly queasy as she swayed slightly on her feet looking around.

"Sorry, I had to Apparate. If you try and portkey onto something that's moving quickly… it can get a little bit messy," Harry shook his head slightly. "Anyway, now to see what damage Do-"

His statement was cut off as the entire ship jumped and rocked as if hit with something, _hard._

Harry's head shot up, "What the hell?!" He didn't wait for an answer to his rhetorical question and sprinted out of the hold toward the cockpit, leaving behind three staggering Jedi, though Ahsoka was quickest to stumble after him.

"Kento! What the hell is going on?" Harry demanded as he burst into the cockpit, his eyes already taking in the view.

They were in the middle of absolute chaos, that only took Harry a moment to identify as a middle of a large fleet of droid ships. Said ships were firing turbolaser blasts in all sorts of directions practically lighting up portions of space.

The Jedi at the piloting controls was a little distracted and jerked when Harry came in, "Trying to fly and this is worse than an asteroid belt!"

"I don't know, I think this is quite the ride! More fun than I've had in ages!" The Sorting hat's voice interjected, amusement in its gravelly tone.

Harry ignored the hat as he immediately moved into the co-pilot's seat as he tried to make sense of what he was seeing as he kept glancing between the chaos out the cockpit and the sensor readings that were lighting up his console, "You know when I said keep them in sensor range, I wasn't really meaning right in the fucking center of them."

"Funny," Kento replied dryly. He looked like he was going to say something else snarky but the entire ship jerked once more from the impact of something hitting it somewhere back near the back engines.

Kento struggled to keep the ship from spinning, Harry wondered briefly if Mallie would have been the better pilot. Kento was just barely keeping it together and he had no idea what sort of torpedoes or droids were hitting his ship.

"Whatever the frak you and your little friend set loose were causing chaos out there. I was a safe distance away. But a pair of freighters jumped out of space nearly on top of the fleet," Kento explained through clenched teeth as he suddenly pulled the ship sharply to the side to avoid something he sensed coming.

"They were caught by the fleet and they're damaged," He pointed out the cockpit where two ships were spinning and lights were flickering not far from them. Though it was clear they were damaged as they attempted to move away from the battle.

Harry noted in his perusal that they didn't seem to be drifting under their own power, but as he looked out at the rest of the ships, he noted that all of them seemed to be damaged, some were floating completely dark, with giant holes through them, others had sporadic bits of turbolaser fire coming from them. Some had even listed into one another causing explosions and wreckage in the space above Kashyyyk

The ships that were blanketing as much space as possible with return fire, were definitely in the minority, perhaps less than a third of the initial force, were moving away from them and continually firing their turbolasers, seemingly at nothing, though even with the distance involved Harry could make out little dots rocketing around with amazing speed, in seeming random and scattered patterns.

"Huh. Didn't know they'd do quite that much damage, figured they'd be more of a distraction than anything," Harry muttered as he took in the damage, "Huh...may have overpowered some of the added charms.

"Whatever this ship is made out of I need one. I just tried to put it between them and more turbolaser fi-" Kento was cut off as another heavy impact slammed against the ship causing the entire thing to jerk. "and whatever the hell you set loose that is causing that!" he added.

He let it pass without mentioning that Kento hadn't had an idea of how durable the _Gryffindor _really was. Essentially the former Jedi was willing to sacrifice himself to protect the two freighters that were clearly not part of the attack fleet. He was completely unsurprised at this revelation, well aware of Kento's character, and that of most Jedi.

Harry frowned and then stared wide eyes as a huge iron bludger the size of a starfighter barreled right at the cockpit. He heard a gasp from behind him but honestly couldn't identify which person it came from.

Kento cursed and jerked the freighter, managing to make the bludger miss the cockpit, but it hit to the side, sending the freighter spinning before Kento righted the ship.

"Damn… okay definitely overdid the engorgement charm…" Harry muttered as he braced himself after the impact.

He shook his head, "Okay Kento, thanks for doing this. Say 'hi' to Mallie for me. In forty-eight hours the red cup I left on the table becomes a portkey, pick it up and make sure the two of you are holding it and one of you is holding Galen and say 'Harry rocks.' and it'll take you home."

"Wha-?" Kento was cut off as Harry turned his cloak into a one way portkey to his home and the surprised Jedi disappeared in a flash of light.

Harry didn't bother as he quickly took over the controls though only temporarily. "Ahsoka, take over piloting here…" he commanded.

Ahsoka slipped easily into the seat that Kento had just vacated. She didn't question Harry's direction. "Keep us between the fleet and those fleeing freighters as best you can," He instructed before he disappeared with another pop without any explanation

Ahsoka blinked and glanced back at Aayla and Shaak Ti who still looked slightly worse for the wear from the initial trip but had completely forgotten their appearance as they stared out at the devastation that looked like a massive fleet had just battled in the space above Kashyyyk.

Shaak Ti and Aayla were considering the implications of the Force use on the scale they had just seen done. An individual Force-wielder, whatever he chose to call it, had just _single-handedly_ repelled a planetary subjugation level invasion army by _himself._ Both knew the implications of this would hardly stay a secret nor would they be anything but wide and far-reaching.

Ahsoka did her best to steady the _Gryffindor_, she didn't really have time to consider the implications of what she was seeing, as far as the effects magic could have. She wondered where Harry was but felt that she had a pretty good idea as she could sense his presence, and it wasn't on the ship with them, it was out in the field beyond them. His presence routinely accompanied surges of the Force, something she felt was so much easier to sense now for some reason. She wondered if it was because of her connection to Harry or if it was something else.

She did note that the hard thumps the ship was taking steadily grew less as the minutes past. She also noted that the two freighters that had been spinning and not moving under their own power had slowed and stopped and seemed to at least have some power now, judging by the internal lights that had slowly flickered on. She also watched at the remains of the fleet jumped to hyperspace.

It was nearly fifteen minutes later, that there were three more much softer thumps against the ship, barely causing the ship to rock, though Ahsoka was confused as she hadn't seen or felt anything headed their way.

Without warning Harry apparated right back into the captain's chair, and slumped there breathing heavily.

A moment later Dobby appeared next to him and wobbled a moment on his legs before he collapsed down on ground, and rolled onto his back. The little being's chest moving up and down rapidly as it panted heavily.

"Master Harry put too much power into Bludgers." Dobby gasped out.

"Hey it worked, didn't it." Harry said after several deep breaths.

"Master Harry Potter getting out of practice." Dobby replied after a moment, still breathing heavily.

"You're complaining that it's been a while since I had to pull something like that?" Harry asked the house elf.

"Dobby just saying, Master Harry getting sloppy at war. Making Dobby work extra hard." Dobby breathed in and out. "It's okay. Dobby used to Master Harry Potter going over the top. Mistress Daphne always say it one of Master Harry's flaws."

Dobby's voice turned very high pitched and mocking, "Always using exploding curse when cutting curse will do."

Harry finally tilted his head to look over at the house elf through narrowed eyes, at the house elf's attempt to imitate Daphne's voice. "Sounds to me like Dobby is getting old and can't keep up."

"Dobby not getting old. Dobby still the best House elf." The little being shook his head slightly. "Master Harry Potter just always doing crazy things. Even Dobby struggle to keep up."

He shook his head slightly taking another deep breath before glancing at Ahsoka, "Set course for Nar Shaddaa. As fast as the engines will go."

"How many years, and I see some things haven't changed?" the Sorting Hat interjected, from where Dobby seemingly had jammed it on Hedwig's perch "Mr. 'Not Slytherin' is still allergic to logic and common sense."

"Shut it before I toss you out an airlock." Harry shot a glare at the hat, "In space no one can hear you annoy them."

**oOooOoOOoOooOo**

**Author's notes. Woohoo chapter! True story… I thought I had posted this chapter a few weeks ago ^.^;; **

**1) *watches smoldering ruins of another canon train and cooks s'mores in one of the fires* Bwahaha… yeah. I wanted something that was essentially a "HERRRREEE'S HARRRRRRRY!" That's what this is. He's finally gotten involved, by choice or by fate. How will people react? What will people do and changes does this obviously loud event create?**

**2) I don't see this as Harry vastly overpowering everything. Jedi are known for huge feats. And as I've made clear, they're like limited wizards. And Harry's… well. He's Harry :P Given that we've had the "Force Unleashed" and the "Force Awakens" I decided to go with that theme. The Force being long repressed and mostly represented by these two extremes has been waiting for that spark to set it free. BOOM. Now what's going to happen? Dunno. Have to wait and see. **

**3) Sharpeyed shout outs for anyone who manages to guess all the unnamed perspectives :D (Plums - most should be obvious when anonymous, and the truly cryptic ones are meant to be :D)**

**4) Plums Ponderings: We searched and toiled for a bit to figure out what the heck Harry actually would do here that would be 'big'. We delved into some mythology for the references (visual and spell-based), and a lot of the inspiration to even look in that direction came from a HP/Warcraft story called "World of Wheezes" by Byakugan789. Within that story, he came up with a very cool concept of "Armageddon" actually being an extremely ancient spell combination of Fiendfyre and its polar opposite in ice being cast in tandem to become self-sustaining. I personally wanted something like that, but we took it in a slightly different direction with the references we chose.**

**Alternative chapter titles:**

"**Harry Potter: Waking women up with a bang." Ahsoka**

"You're getting better at those." - Harry

"Thanks!" - Ahsoka

"**Ahsoka's fault for tempting Fate." - Harry. **

"It is not my fault and I did not!" - Ahsoka

"Seriously. Fate is like a three year old child. all it takes is a cookie or a shiny object and suddenly you have its attention." - Harry

"Oh really Mr. Potter?" - Fate.

"Fuck." - Harry

"**Harry owns a Perverted piece of fabric. Why am I not surprised?" -Aayla**

"That… is totally not my fault." Harry

"Right…." -Ahsoka

"**Ahsoka: Former Jedi… also a voyeur." - Daphne's portrait.**

"Am not!"

"Oh, you _didn't_ see him changing?" -Daphne

"Shut up." - Ahsoka

"**Ahsoka finally gets naked, voluntarily!" - Harry.**

"And you didn't get to see it!" - Tonks, taunting.

"Awww… damnit!" - Harry

"**Harry plays with Fire." - Ahsoka**

"It was fun!" - Harry.

"I was referring to Aayla." - Ahsoka

"Psh. Then that was hardly _playing." _\- Harry

"**Charge!" - Droid Army**

"Hi." - Harry Potter.

"Oh f-" Droid Army

"**Dobby make fleet go Boom… and save Harry Potter's life… again." - Dobby. **

"**Quidditch. Not just for playing on broomsticks anymore." - Harry**

"Technically game not over. No one catch snitch yet."- Dobby.

"Destroying a lot of ships pretty much means it's over Dobby." - Harry.

"**Dobby never meant to destroy nasty ships. Only maim or disfigure them!" Dobby**

"**... Did you just leave me on Kashyyyk?" - Hedwig, (translated)**

"I feel a great disturbance in the Force, as if millions of voices suddenly cried out in terror." - Obi-Wan

"Nope. That was Harry and the two authors screaming in terror… really loudly." - Ahsoka.

"No… we totally didn't. She's like… in the hold or something." - Kat. _

"Hedwig is totally capable of creating an interdimensional rift to teleport herself onto Harry's ship." - Plums

"**Life is not tried it is merely survived if you're standing outside the fire" - singing Sorting Hat. **

"You're almost as bad at singing as you are at sorting." -Harry

"I'll have you know, i'm great at sorting Mr. Potter."- Sorting hat.

"Draco Malfoy." - Harry.

"That's only one ex-" Sorting Hat

"Hermione." - Harry

"Okay that's tw-"

"Fred, George, Crabbe, Goyle, Peter Pettigrew, Percy, Albus Dumbledore, shall I go on?"- Harry

"No need to get snippy Mr Not-Slytherin." huffed the Sorting Hat.

""FIENDFY-" Harry

"Harry Potter! No using fiendfyre on the Sorting hat." - Daphne.


	13. Histories and Lightsabers

**Chapter 13**

**ooOooOOooOoo**

"Well. That was fun," Harry said to break the silence after the stars had elongated into bright stripes and the Gryffindor shot into hyperspace.

The three women in the cockpit with him, who only now were coming down from the adrenaline rush of the past few hours, looked at him like he was crazy for the comment or simply stared at him in shock. All of the faces directed towards both Harry and Dobby studiously ignored.

"Dobby just hopes Master Harry gots all the bludgers." the house elf stated from the floor as he pushed himself up.

Harry narrowed his eyes at the creature who finally picked himself up and dusted himself off, "I know how many I enchanted. We collected them all."

"Master Harry Potter old, sometimes he loses count of things," Dobby stated.

"I do not lose count of things, Dobby." Harry replied with a roll of his eyes.

Dobby looked up at Harry with an overly innocent expression, "Then how old is Master Harry Potter?"

Harry opened his mouth to reply and then hesitated.

"Truly, Master Harry Potter's counting skills are amazing," Dobby stated triumphantly before he popped away.

"I counted, we have them all!" Harry half stated half shouted indignantly towards the back of the ship.

"I think he's actually getting cheekier," Harry muttered aloud to no one in particular as he turned back around and shook his head before he stood up and stretched his back

"Dobby was always a few ingredients short of a full potion," interjected the Sorting Hat. "Takes after his Master like that."

Harry rolled his eyes and reached over and picked up the hat, "You're going to keep being grumpy until you get on my head for an update aren't you?"

"Well, let's see. We're surrounded by three women with racial backgrounds I can't identify. Oh yes. And we're in _outer space_. Even for you I would say this adventure is beyond the norm," stated the Hat without apology.

Harry sighed and reached up and deposited the Hat on his head.

"Oooh," the Hat murmured contently as it seemed to squirm on top of his head to get comfortable.

"Yeah yeah, I better not hear any grumping from you in awhile." Harry muttered as he shook his head slightly, which did nothing to dislodge the hat before he turned to Ahsoka, finally acknowledging the people who had seen him accomplish the hitherto thought impossible for the past few hours straight.

Her only reaction was to simply stare back expectantly, waiting for answers to her unasked questions about everything he had recently done. Seeing the impending questioning present in her eyes, he turned to the other two older Jedi and cringed.

If Ahsoka was curious, both Aayla and Shaak Ti looked like they were just barely managing to keep themselves from going for a full blown interrogation on him.

"Let me guess. You have questions," Harry said dryly with a hint of resignation.

Ahsoka actually snorted, while Aayla rolled her eyes at the understatement of the century.

Shaak Ti was the only one who actually responded, "Several, in fact, Harry Potter."

"Yeah, yeah, okay. I did promise Ahsoka answers after all," Harry nodded in assent as he went to run a hand through his hair and stopped remembering there was a hat perched on his head, "It's not like my little robot invasion bonfire is gonna be a secret anyway. But… not here."

"If I'm going to be answering a long story then I'm going to be more comfortable," He shifted to move past them but froze, his expression fearful after his first step and backed up into the cockpit control panel.

It was an expression that caught all three women off guard, since it wasn't one they had seen on him to date. But the sheer terror there was astounding to them.

"Oh shite-" He blurted as he held his hand up in front of his face defensively.

"PREEECCCK!" came the sound of an indignant sounding bark.

He was suddenly set upon by a white bird who clawed and beat at him furiously with her wings.

"Ow! OW! Hedwig I'm sorry! Hey! That's my eye! Cut it out!" He protested as he continued to try and prevent the assault.

His protests were joined by the voice of the Hat, "Blame him not me, you bloody bag of feathers! AH! Sorry! No! Watch the lining!"

The protests and the assault went on for nearly a half minute, before the assault stopped and the bird turned away from him and landed on Ahsoka's shoulder with a flutter. The Togruta flinched slightly expecting similar treatment, but instead Hedwig nuzzled the side of her head once in reassurance before turning back to Harry and glaring balefully at him.

"Hey.. I'm sorry. We were in a rush, and I knew you could take care of yourself and get here," Harry said to the owl soothingly as he ran a hand over his cheek to check for blood. He was relatively surprised when his hand came back clean.

"That's not true! He-mmph!" The Sorting Hat started to say but Harry reached up and forcibly squeezed the mouth lining shut with his hand.

The owl shuffled and somehow managed to convey the fact that she was distinctly unimpressed with them both. She turned her head and began to preen herself. Clearly indicating that the discussion was over and that she was content on Ahsoka's shoulder.

To add insult to injury, Ahsoka reached up to stroke the feathers of her chest and the bird pressed into those fingers with a happy bark.

Harry sighed once more and shook his head, though he kept a hold of the Hat's mouth, as it continued to try and talk for several moments. "C'mon, let's go somewhere more comfortable to chat. You've been patient and if nothing else, Ahsoka at least deserves some answers."

He headed out of the cockpit and back toward the expanded hold of the ship. He walked back toward the back toward the mini study area not bothering to check to see if they followed him. He idly noted that there was a pile of trunks in the ship where none had been there before and realized that Dobby had brought most of them from the house. He wondered if that was simply to make sure they had them, or if those were ones they hadn't done and the elf was going to insist on organizing and labeling them.

Shaak Ti and Aayla followed with Ahsoka a few moments later, after realizing that the owl had no intention of hopping on her normal back of chair perch. Instead it seemed that Hedwig intended to stay with her for the moment and rode along on her shoulder easily.

Harry noted that there was only one chair in the hold so with a wave of a wand he conjured a couch and another chair. He flopped down on one side of the newly conjured couch and leaned back, throwing one arm over the back of the couch as he looked up at the three women who followed him out of the cockpit.

He looked like he was about to speak but was cut off by the Sorting Hat. "Very interesting Mister Potter. As always... quite the adventure with you."

After a moment, the Hat spoke quietly, in an almost uncharacteristic tone of concern after all the sarcastic and lewd remarks it had made thus far. "You honestly believe this… person may have a true lead for you and you're not just chasing Snorkacks again?"

"I don't, not really anyway," Harry replied, his tone honest as he took off the Hat and tossed it lightly on the desk that contained several books and scrolls and now sat right past the arm of the couch he was sitting against. "But sometimes chasing snorkacks is enough to amuse me. Especially for someone in my position. Besides… you never know what you might find in the process."

"Too true, Mr. Potter. Too true," the hat said after it had landed and seemed to shift and reorient to face Harry once more. "Sounds suspiciously like something Miss Lovegood used to say."

The Hat was silent a moment before it responded, sounding genuinely serious if somewhat melancholy. "So the trip to Nar Shaddaa and this 'Slicer' is another step on your search."

"Yup," Harry replied cheerfully, "As I said, it'll be entertaining if nothing else."

"Then I hope you find something besides false hope or leprechaun gold," the Hat replied, with his tone surprisingly serious.

"Wait a minute," interrupted Aayla as she stared back and forth between the piece of headwear and Harry. "How does the frakking _hat_ suddenly know more about what's going on than we do? We've been around you the whole time and yet you've never done more than insult one another."

"Please. Those things I said to the walking combination of natural disaster and trouble magnet were hardly insults!" The Hat protested with a sound of pure indignation.

"The moth eaten collection of lint is right," Harry replied as he nodded in amused agreement, "It was more like social commentary."

Before they could argue further, he shook his head and kicked up his feet, then looked down in surprise when he realized that there was no table in front of him to do so. A wave of his hand corrected that, putting a foot stool directly in front of him.

"So… I believed I promised Ahsoka answers to her questions, and I know you have some as well," Harry asked with a half amused, half resigned expression as he met the eyes of the three looking at him.

The oblique reference to Harry's rather unorthodox uses of the Force seemed to embolden Aayla and Shaak Ti, though Aayla was the one who beat her to the punch, "I think that's rather an understatement."

They all saw him sigh a little bit, a look of resignation crossing his face. he had after all been rather evasive of any questions on his background. He knew the interrogation was coming sooner or later. He had also promised Ahsoka some answers the evening before, and could see from her expression that she was eager to ask questions, but could also sense that she would back off if he expressed much reluctance.

Ahsoka grinned as she looked at him, "I think I've been patient! I have lots of questions."

"Somehow, I'm not surprised," Harry snorted, before he seemed to shrug it off, and his mouth quirked slightly in amusement, "I don't suppose I could claim that the explosion this morning gave me temporary amnesia?"

"Nice try, Harry," said Ahsoka, after glancing at the chairs she hesitated several moments glancing at Harry and seeming to gather her courage before she stepped around the footstool and sat down on the couch next to him. When she saw that he wasn't shifting away from her she relaxed into the cushion behind her, incidentally resting her head on his arm.

"You know I started making a list of all the odd things I've wondered about you. It's become quite long," she said to push through any awkward silence, with an extremely satisfied grin on her face.

She was really glad that Harry didn't object to the close physical contact. Jedi weren't opposed to physical contact per se, but a part of Ahsoka that she had always ignored, one she recognized as a part of her Togruta heritage craved casual physical contact. Harry's hugs the previous evening had felt better than anything she had felt before, in part because she could feel the emotion surrounding them. But this was the first she had initiated the contact, when she wasn't an emotional mess. She ignored the way Shaak Ti and Aayla exchanged a look between the two of them at her actions but neither decided to say anything about her behavior.

Harry looked at Ahsoka in surprise for a moment and then chuckled softly as he glanced over at the hat briefly, before looking back at her a fond smile on his face, "Why am I not surprised that you have a list either?"

"How about we keep it simple before you give him a full-blown interrogation?" asked Aayla, her own interest was betrayed in her voice. As she settled in one of the chairs, she seemed slightly surprised that the chair actually rocked forward slightly.

"I figured I'd need to answer some sooner or later. Be advised, I won't lie to you, but I may not tell_ everyone_ everything," Harry said, mostly directing his comment to Ahsoka with a slight warning lilt to his voice.

His warning just produced an unrepentant grin from the girl, "That's okay, I've got lots of time to learn all your secrets. You're stuck with me, _Master_!"

Of course Aayla wasn't surprised at all when Ahsoka did not take a deferential stance or expression to Harry's admonition. Even when she was a padawan, she was hardly a paragon of submissiveness. That was something no doubt encouraged by her former Master. Harry certainly seemed to be an instructor in the same vein.

The hat on the table snickered a little bit, "I like her, you should let me sort her."

"Maybe later," Harry replied with a roll of his eyes, before turning his attention back to the girl resting her head on his arm, "Okay, I'm ready. Hit me with your questions."

"Where is it you come from?" Ahsoka asked immediately. She had been curious since he had shown her glimpses of his world in his memories.

"It can hardly be from a planet called 'Dirt'," Aayla added with a twitch of sarcasm, remembering the bounty hunter information that Master Kenobi had ready to the entire Jedi High Council.

Harry's brow furrowed for a moment in confusion at Aayla's comment, and after a few seconds he blinked in recognition, which was then followed by a full blown smile, "Oh! I take it someone has read my bounty hunter's guild membership application... file... thing."

Shaak Ti's voice was dry. "Yes, several of the Masters were definitely not amused when your list of prior aliases was read aloud, along with your biographical information."

"Not like the guild tries to verify anything. You pay dues, follow their rules which tend to be something along the lines of 'No mass destruction,' 'No messy disintegrations,' and 'No getting in other Hunter's business after they've captured their prey'," Harry listed off before he shrugged. "Though a lot of the really big names in the business don't follow that one, which is also why they're not part of any of the major guilds."

"Those kind of bounty hunters are the ones who are more terrorist and mercenary than an extension of the law," Harry mused quietly.

Shaak Ti tilted her head inquisitively, "So you see yourself as an extension of the law?"

"Hardly," Harry snorted derisively, "You heard my thoughts on some of the legal set ups in this galaxy. The only reason for being a member of the Bounty Hunter Guild and paying those dues is on the rare occasion some blowhard law enforcement officer stops me, I can wave my credentials in their face and just walk away without having to resort to mass obliviations, assuming the confrontation took place while I'm in public."

"Also assuming I haven't blown anything up," he said a bit sheepishly before he glanced over at Aayla, visions of her outfit during that morning's explosion coming briefly to his mind. "Of course, the latter happens more often than I care to admit."

Harry turned to Ahsoka, "Which is proved case-in-point by our little encounter with those two relics from your old Order. Those two broke so many laws it wasn't funny, then tried to bluff their way out of it. Once I said I was part of the Guild, and legitimately looked like I could verify that through credentials and licenses, they couldn't touch me."

"That's not the only reason," the Sorting Hat interjected in amusement.

"Yeah, well. It's the only one that matters," Harry responded sharply to the hat.

Ahsoka's eyes narrowed, she was sensing a bit of embarrassment from Harry, so she leaned forward slightly to look past Harry toward the hat, "What's the other reason?" she asked, directing her question at the Hat rather than Harry this time.

"Because he always wanted to introduce himself as '_Harry Potter, Bounty Hunter_'. It's also much more effective than '_Harry Potter, Wizard of Questionable Sanity'_," the Hat actually snorted. "And because where we're from, he never actually got paid once for catching all the bad guys he took down. He likes the irony."

Harry shook his head but didn't disagree with the talking hat, "No fair giving away my motives," he groused a little bit, though it was clear to all present that he was not really upset.

Shaak Ti's tilted her head thoughtfully. She debated following that train of the conversation, but changed her mind and tried redirect the discussion back to the original question. "So what really is the name of the planet then, Mr. Potter? Where is the planet located? What sector?"

Ahsoka piped up as she leaned back against Harry's arm, "That's really what confused me! Based on what you've mentioned… It's hard to imagine a Force-based… or magical culture existing _undiscovered _anywhere near any of the major hyperspace routes," she supplied with surety.

"Certainly not with the Jedi being completely ignorant of it…" added Shaak Ti, who suddenly began to speak quite rapidly. "Given what we've just seen, the Order should be able to sense mass Force-use on the scale you showed. What you did on the planet with that fire...was probably sensed easily by everyone in the entire system who was Force-Sensitive. So remaining undiscovered is unlikely, especially if what you did was a relatively common occurrence."

Harry raised an eyebrow at Shaak Ti and grinned a bit since her mannerisms and method of speaking thoughts aloud began to remind him of an old friend. "To be completely honest, I haven't the faintest clue what sector Earth is in. I seriously doubt I'll ever actually be able to go back,"

Aayla sighed a bit in frustration and looked disappointed, "What's the point of trying to find out more about you if you aren't going to be honest with us or are going to evade our questions?"

"Never promised you answers to every question, Blue," Harry responded with a grin, his eyes flicking purposefully to her still pink skin, before he then sighed with visible frustration, "But in this case I'm being completely honest and not being evasive in the slightest."

"Technically 'Dirt' _is_ what the name of the planet means even in galactic basic. To be perfectly frank, the planet itself might not exist anymore, or even worse, might not exist yet, or in the worst case scenario, never at all," Harry frowned in puzzlement as he tried to figure out the proper verbiage

Shaak Ti tilted her head as she followed Harry's words before she followed up, "Would you be willing to explain what you mean by that?"

Harry blinked in surprise and then smiled slightly in approval at the older Togrutan Jedi asking for more information and not jumping to conclusions, "Well, yes, I can explain that, but it's likely to be a very long story. One you're not very likely to believe, to be honest."

Shaak Ti observed him dryly, but there was a small smile on her lips, "I'm certain I don't have anything demanding my attention this moment. I cannot promise blind acceptance, I will however listen, and try and do my best to suspend my disbelief at least for the time being."

"I just saw you call fire from the sky and destroy an invasion force and cripple over half a fleet, forcing the rest to retreat… and I've met Dobby. I think that buys you a bit of believability," Aayla said with a smirk.

"I trust you." Ahsoka said simply, resisting the urge to rest against Harry's side as he talked, though her comment drew looks from the other two and a brief flash of a smile from Harry.

Harry sat still for a bit, trying to figure out a proper place to explain his background, giving them enough information while still maintaining some personal privacy over his origins, "I came from a planet called Earth. Yes, as I said, it literally translates to 'dirt', don't ask me why the name was never changed over the years to something a bit more refined. Probably because at one point on our planet there were over three hundred nations and they probably couldn't even agree what to have for lunch, much less on a name for a planet."

"Also possibly because they were and still are, last I knew, under the delusion that they existed alone in the galaxy. Though to be fair, once more the last I knew, they still have never seen any evidence to the contrary," Harry chuckled softly.

"What about the Force users on your planet?" Aayla inquired, wondering if that might offer some better insight to Harry.

"Magicals or 'Force users' if you must, started organizing and learning about their abilities around seven or eight thousand years ago. And when I left, they were still in existence, despite some close calls with extinction," Harry replied.

"Really," said Shaak Ti looking thoughtful, "The Jedi Order has been around for roughly 25 thousand years, though the Order has nearly been wiped out several times in that time span,"

Harry looked up at her for a moment, but there was no hint of smugness or superiority in her tone or expression.

"As I said there was some close calls for our people too," said Harry, "but knowledge more often than not remained intact, At first it was simple parlor tricks, and then it expanded into rituals, potions, and combat. Though after a certain point, over time, selectively fewer and fewer had access to the most powerful and oftentimes useful spells."

"I have studied history extensively, it's one of my hobbies," Harry said, with a self deprecating tone. "For millennia, my people often served as advisors and leaders of the world, but that all changed around oh… three and a half or four thousand or so years ago,"

"A religion sprang up, inspired by a Magic user of all people. One who faked his death, twice. In the 'holy' books written by his followers, who weren't magical, there was a passage which, as it was translated through a few languages, a drunk orator or five, and possibly a few bad games of charades, eventually came to read as, 'thou shalt not suffer a witch to live'," Harry shook his head in disgust. "My people became hunted, even though the normal unwashed and uneducated people who lived just about everywhere had no chance of doing anything to even the most basically educated magical adept."

"Still, it was the fact that my people, who largely were responsible for most of the medical advancements and preservation of recorded history of the world, were now seen as demon worshippers or worse because of our abilities. We started getting blamed for anything and everything from famine, to drought, to disease and plague, to simple bad luck," Harry shook his head. "Of course my own people didn't exactly help matters by their own levels of arrogance and condescension in regards to mundanes. It kind of made them easy to blame."

"Eventually, it was decided that our entire society would go into hiding, two thousand or so years ago, through a worldwide law that made the use of Magic a secret. So, the society became rather insular, now that they no longer mixed with the mundanes of the world. Of course, as it tends to happen to cultures in isolation, innovation in their small society promptly ground to a halt," Harry smiled ruefully, "New ideas were something they had a severe aversion to."

"Move ahead about three hundred years from that point, to the time when I was born," He saw and ignored all three of the girls as they frowned and start to work out the math on what he just said.

Shaak Ti's eyes widened in surprise first, with Aayla's and Ahsoka's both following a moment later.

"Seventeen _hundred_ years?" Aayla asked first.

"Give or take a few dozen," Harry replied, enjoying their reactions before he frowned, "I think."

He ignored the snickering he heard from the hat beside him.

The three Jedi looked back and forth between one another as they processed the words. That wasn't the oldest species they heard about, but for a human to claim that was more than a little startling. Though then again they had all seen that the Force tended to extend the lives of its wielders, and there had been some Jedi Masters who seemed to stop aging completely based on their connection to the Force.

Ahsoka was less startled than the other two as she had gotten to know Harry better, though the actual number was still more than a bit startling.

"You weren't kidding about your kind being long living," Aayla stated.

"That's true, but their life spans average 200, possibly 250." Harry chuckled, "Even among my own kind I'm not exactly normal."

He was more than a little put out when there were snorts of amusement from all three women, and the sound of amused chuckling from one sorting hat.

"So why are you different?" Aayla asked, though she had a niggling suspicion already.

"I'll get to that," Harry said over the next snort of amusement of the hat. "Where was I?"

"Your auspicious birth," the Hat supplied helpfully.

Harry shot a glare at the hat. He felt it was having entirely too much fun at the moment.

"Yes. Right. That. Well… a Dark Lord was rising in my parents' little corner of the community. Of course he was just the latest in a line of them. They popped up every twenty or thirty years." Harry shook his head, "Centuries of isolationism from mundanes had led to a rise of extreme arrogance among the long-lived Wizard lines. And among a society that was already arrogant, that's saying something."

Harry once more had revulsion in his tone. "They had little to no contact with the 'real world' and thus assumed most people still lived in hovels, beasts of burden were necessary for transportation, and lights powered via electricity were a novelty or fad and one that would likely pass."

"This Dark Lord wanted to rule the world," Harry paused as he got a thoughtful look on his face. "Well… that's rather redundant. All Dark Lords seemed to want to rule the world for one reason or another. At least all the ones I ever met. I suppose there might be an exception somewhere. I just don't think I've ever met one."

Harry shook his head from his musing, "I'm not sure whether that particular Dark Lord really believed in it; but he used the cause surrounding the belief in purity of blood. That meant the only magicals who were worth anything in his mind were strictly human, could trace their lineage back at least five generations of purely magical human beings through both parents, and believed the same as him."

"Now, my world is unique, in that I'm aware of almost a dozen fully sentient species that evolved on my world. Humans were by far the most populous, and all other non-human species that I was aware of on the planet were magical in nature," Harry explained.

"Really? That many species? And there were no wars of supremacy or enslavement?" asked Aayla. "Usually if there are even two sentient species on a planet, one seeks to enslave the other, unless they inhabit areas that tend to be mutually exclusive to the other."

Harry shook his head quickly in disagreement snorting in derision, "There were dozens, even _hundreds_ of wars, and some races were wiped out, and others enslaved, while others shifted into a tentative 'peace'. Unfortunately, it was pretty much always the human magicals who won those conflicts and set the laws that governed the others. I won't lie. Magicals were kinda shitty that way."

"Well, that Dark Lord I mentioned, along with a good portion of the society, didn't believe those same species were worth the dirt between their toes. The popular dialogue was that they were unthinking beasts, or 'Dark Creatures' which would turn on us at a moment's notice and kill us all," Harry shook his head quickly, well aware he could go on a tangent with little provocation, "In other words, the entire society, in its bid to save itself from the mundanes three hundred years prior, became corrupt beyond imagining."

"In the midst of all that, I was born to two lovely people. My mother, a first-generation witch who was born from non-magicals," Harry said.

"Lily," Ahsoka interjected, her hand reaching over to run over the wand holster still on her arm.

Harry glanced at her and his eyes flicked to the holster and he nodded once in confirmation of her unspoken question, "Lily..."

There was only a slight pause before he continued, "And my father, James, who could trace his magical lineage back over two thousand years."

"Due to a betrayal of the worst sort, from a friend of my parents', the Dark Lord killed them both, before the then tried to kill me. But my mother's sacrifice saved me and caused the Dark lord to lose his body and exist in wraith form for a time," Harry shook his head slightly, "I'm really not going to go into the wars that I was basically born into, but long story short, with the help of some amazing friends, I eventually stopped that Dark Lord after multiple confrontations including a final one that came down to him and me when I was seventeen."

"After that war, I decided to live my life," Harry chuckled, and pointed at Aayla and Ahsoka, "You've both met the portraits of my wives. Magicals held families as all important, and because I was the head of not one but two prominent families, I married twice at the same time. Not something I had envisioned, mostly because I never really expected to survive that long,"

"But, because I had multiple family lines with their own magics that needed to be individually passed on, I got married to two amazing women. One I got to know during the war, one afterward," He had a fond smile on his face as he clearly was reliving a fond memory.

A their incredulous looks at the idea of needing to marry twice to pass on 'magic' he held up his hand. "Trust me, it's true… took forever for them to actually convince me of the necessity of it. First glance it's an anachronism of a prominently male dominated society. But there were legitimate magics that wouldn't mix and would've been lost if I hadn't. Our society actually had laws set down to prevent ending of family lines so things like that wouldn't be lost."

"Not really that surprising or even that unusual, there are many races and cultures in which such arrangements are the norm, few of them male dominated." Shaak Ti interjected.

"Yeah, I've discovered that myself." Harry replied with a chuckle.

"Anyway, after I got married, I thought I was all ready to settle down the rest of my days with a nice, albeit complicated family dynamic. Unfortunately my life is never simple, or normal," The wry smile faded from his face and his eyes got a faraway look in them.

Two things stopped Ahsoka from snapping her fingers to get his attention. First was the melancholy look crossed his face. The second was the similar flash of emotions she felt coursing through him.

His smile slowly turned a bit bitter and self mocking. "No, Harry Potter doesn't do 'normal' or 'simple'."

Silence fell as Harry didn't say anything more, his gaze still far away.

"What do you mean by that, Harry?" Ahsoka asked quietly, shifting closer to him and nudging him very gently in the side with her elbow drawing him back to the conversation and not wanting to let him slip into memories.

Harry's eyes zoomed back into focus as he regarded Ahsoka searchingly, for several long moments before he spoke again. He seemed to brace himself. "Harry Potter doesn't do normal. Or as both my wives would say, 'Harry Potter wouldn't know what to do with normal if it walked up and punched him in the nose.'"

"Don't you mean walked up and stabbed you? Given your history I think that would be the far more likely outcome," the Hat offered helpfully.

"Eh, punched, stabbed, shot, you know. Whatever." Harry replied.

"It took us four… or maybe five decades before we realized something was 'off' about me. Magic users on my world were far longer lived than our non-magical counterparts. Our magic retards the aging process somewhat," Harry explained, completely ignoring the comment from the hat.

"A normal human lifespan averaged around seventy to seventy five years in those days," Harry grimaced, "As I explained, a healthy magical was expected to live to a two hundred years. Two hundred wasn't even considered extreme. An extremely powerful magical, who was of course healthy, could hit two hundred and fifty years with only raised eyebrows from those around them. We age, just much slower than everyone else."

"That was the problem though. I didn't seem to get much older. At first we joked I was simply 'well preserved.' A phrase from a famous book on my world. Then, after a few more decades, it became impossible to ignore. We realized I wasn't aging at all," Harry shook his head and glanced down at his hands.

"When we realized it, we tried to figure out why. Though it's mostly supposition and could be any number of different factors or even elements I was exposed to," Harry shook his head with a wry expression, "Because of a series of… incidents that occurred when I was young. it may be any one of those things that did it. As your tests showed, my blood is incredibly… different. So one of the explanations could be something that's in my very blood."

"Is that why you were so concerned about me taking your blood?" Shaak Ti asked, putting aside the idea of Harry claiming to be over a millennia old. It certainly wasn't unheard of, she knew of three sentient and humanoid species, including Master Yoda who were or had life spans that were that long.

Harry snorted indelicately, "Hardly. Isolating what is actually my blood and what is…. other magical stuff is pretty much impossible, but that's not what concerned me. Someone with a bit of magical blood can do some… very unpleasant things to that person."

"I learned that the hard way, after I experienced one such unpleasant time, namely the resurrection of the Dark Lord that had killed my parents using my blood, I eventually developed a ritual that prevented anyone from being able to take my blood and make any use of it unwillingly, even without it intending to be used, my blood is unique and offers me some protection, but I still don't give it around willy nilly." Harry explained.

"Which is why we couldn't get any sort of readings on your blood?" Aayla clarified.

Harry shrugged, "My blood has so many things, magical and otherwise floating in it at this point, even I sometimes have a hard time keeping track. By my count, my blood came into contact with several things that _could_ have caused my aging issue, and those are just the chemical reasons," Harry shook his head, quickly cutting off the inevitable follow-up question.

"Once I realized what was happening, I began to work furiously in potions and alchemy. I didn't want to lose my wives… my family," His voice broke slightly and he swallowed thickly. No matter how long it had been he still had trouble saying it. "So I worked to try to find a way to keep them from dying,"

"That is an ever present danger and why all Jedi must be wary of attachments. Becoming so obsessed with what you're attached to that you lose touch with reality and attempt to do the impossible," Shaak Ti said levelly.

Aayla glanced quickly to Ahsoka who seemed to swell up in indignation a retort on her lips. She had already heard this rant on attachments from her and Aayla could see that Shaak Ti was about to be on the receiving end of the same rant. However, she was cut off by a dismissive snort from Harry that drew the attention of all three.

"Please… immortality... or at least the complete arresting of the aging process is hardly _impossible_," Harry scoffed, rolling his eyes.

"If what you say about your life span is true," Shaak Ti's response was slow and it was clear she was choosing her words carefully. She was somewhat relieved when Harry didn't take umbrage at her doubting his words, but rather content that she was willing to consider it. "Being long lived is not unheard of. Wookiees live for centuries. Master Yoda is nearly a millennium old. The Gen'Dai are known to live for several millennia. So being long lived is not a myth."

"Longevity achieved in complete defiance of a life span though… always raises concerns." Her voice was uncertain though since there were several people throughout the history of the order that had seemed to arrest the aging process. Though those who were in the Jedi were powerful, they had almost always died heroes deaths. Those in the Sith were usually destroyed.

"No, not long lived, I mean immortal, as in not aging. And it's not _that_ unreasonable. Now that I'm older, and have truly explored magic, I know of at least…" Harry trailed off and scrunched his brow in thought. "Um…three? four ways? I start to lose track. Though two are incredibly dark, and two are involuntary, and one is sort of a only one at a time sorta thing… I think."

He seemed completely unaware of the stares he was receiving from the three women as he continued to consider the issue and count, "Five… six... though that one is sorta gross… I heard of a seventh way, but could never figure out how rubber bands, a liquid lunch and a particle accelerator could have that effect. But it certainly isn't the strangest I've heard of."

He seemed to cotton on to the fact that they were staring at him and snapped back to the conversation. "But yeah. I certainly wasn't going to go all dark and start murdering and sacrificing innocent souls. No, I was working on recreating an alchemical masterpiece. One of the things that might be the reason for my aging issue is contact I had with what my world called a philosopher's stone. Essentially, one of the purest transmutation mediums you can create. Among the numerous things you can produce with such a thing, is a way to preserve and heal someone's body so that they enjoy a quasi-eternal life."

Both Shaak Ti and Aayla exchanged blank looks at that statement.

"Quasi-eternal?" Ahsoka asked with a frown on her face trying to work out the meaning to that.

Harry nodded a bit. "Essentially stops the aging process and provides an overall improvement to general health and healing. But it won't like… prevent someone from killing them by cutting off their head or something,"

""I… think," Harry trailed off uncertainly, "I admit I haven't really tried that one on someone else."

He shook his head, ignoring the raised eyebrows from the people around him. "Anyway, the attempt to recreate the stone pretty much consumed my work for the next several decades. I learned all I could about potions, alchemy and what muggles understood of the human body. I didn't want to lose Daphne or Tonks to age. Our children either,"

Shaak Ti and Aayla both exchanged looks at that, it was the exact sort of thing that Jedi had to be worried about, becoming too attached to people that they would sacrifice anything in order to keep their attachments, often sacrificing who they were in order to do it. .

"It's ironic, I ended up completing it with a surprise burst of inspiration that I had been hoping and hunting for decades… around a year after burying both of my wives. It had been under my nose the entire time," Harry's expression was melancholy, but also one of resignation. He had come to terms with it a long time ago.

Ahsoka could feel those emotions in him and feel the loneliness that came with it, and it was enough impetus for her to give in and slid into Harry's side and slid her arms around her waist, giving him a hug, which caught him off guard but caused him to smile at her. Ahsoka blushed a bit and released the hug but stayed pressed against his side.

Her blush increased when he dropped his arm around her shoulder and squeezed her affectionately. She could feel the gazes of the two Jedi Masters but didn't look their way to meet their eyes. Harry however didn't seem to be bothered at all as he looked up trying to recapture his train of thought.

"Anyway. So there I was, immortal, a means to grant immortality to others, along with eternal youth to the women I loved with a single drink… and they'd both already lived to over the age of a hundred and seventy, and I completed a scientific impossibility and magical improbability a year after they died. One year too late," Harry was lost in his thoughts, he realized this was the first time he'd talked to anyone about himself, in… centuries. Even if he had to obliviate one or more of them later it was still cathartic in a way. He was talking to people who had no idea of his history and he could still tell the unvarnished truth.

"You… _actually_ discovered the means to stop aging?" asked Aayla carefully.

Harry chuckled and shrugged, "More like re-discovered really, since someone else had already done it first. And others are thought to have done it, but they didn't actually make the knowledge of their achievement public."

He tilted his head to the side a little bit absently, and almost immediately and without any sort of warning, Hedwig had taken off of the chair she had made her perch, and landed on his shoulder, right by Ahsoka's head. The bird seemed to be over her anger, at least for the moment as she nuzzled the side of his head.

Harry reached up and stroked her feathers lightly. "Hedwig is how I know it works. She's the oldest owl in history as far as I know. She is the descendent of my first friend and when I went to find a way to experiment, with the stone and the Elixir of Life, she refused to let me choose anything like a lab rat. Started pecking me and refused to stop."

Hedwig let out a preck, that was either emphasis or pride but either way totally agreed with Harry's statement.

"You know it's funny," He stroked her feathers lightly as she nipped as his fingers, playfully this time. "After I moved past being upset, that it had worked, but only worked too late. I only told my two sons and my daughter what I had accomplished in the end. But none of them asked for the elixir. They were content to live out their lives with their families and friends. Though all three of them lead exceptionally long lives. My daughter lived to be 317."

"After I accomplished that I… gave serious thought to following my wives to the afterlife of my own volition," Harry shrugged a bit and offered a weak smile to the Jedi. "But it felt too much like quitting and I thought I'd be just giving up. I realized that I'd be disappointing them by simply ending it like that. It was pretty effective at staying my hand."

The hat harrumphed at that but didn't say anything in response.

Ahsoka stared up at him, she could tell despite his blasé tone that it was a sad topic for Harry, and she could also tell that he wasn't telling them everything about that particular portion of his life. But she could sense it wasn't an area that he necessarily wanted to linger on.

She wondered how low he got if he was considering attempting to kill himself. The idea that Harry would do that was so jarring to her and she found herself hugging him again, this time it was as much about giving him reassurance, as it was about her giving him reassurance.

Hedwig barked at Harry and fixed him with a glare as if challenging his statement and pulling him out of his musing. The Sorting Hat chuckled softly at the owl. "That wasn't the only reason though."

Harry sighed wryly, knowing that Hedwig and the Sorting Hat were keeping him relatively honest, though he knew he could silence the thing at any time. "Okay, I also still felt responsible."

"Responsible? For what?" Aayla asked curiously, keeping in mind what Ahsoka had originally told her about treating the bird like the smartest being around.

"Well, at that point in time, I had also become the defacto Dark Lord killer on my world. A Dark Lord would start making noise and I'd have to pop in and smack them down," Harry shook his head with a sigh.

"Tonks always told me I had an overdeveloped sense-of-responsibility gland. Another literary reference," He smiled fondly in remembrance "Daphne kept telling me that I was the self-appointed cure to the magical world's continually recurring case of cranial rectum syndrome. My best friend called it a saving-people-thing. Whatever it was, for a long time, when Dark Lords popped their heads up, I was the one the magical world started looking to in order to smack them down."

That caused more raised eyebrows from the three women at the table.

"What? You think your Jedi Order has the monopoly on stupid ideologies and self destructive tendencies? Hardly," Harry sneered derisively, though it was clear that he wasn't directing it right at the Jedi.

"Pardon me?" Shaak Ti interjected, and it was clear that he had managed to offend her. Aayla's expression was more resigned, as she had heard Harry's opinions on the Order more than once.

Harry focused his attention on Shaak Ti, and pointed at her with the hand that was resting over Ahsoka's shoulder,, "You, I might pardon if you continue on the path to independent thought. But I can hardly blame you for that reaction, though you might not like why. My society was precisely the same way. Arrogant, unable to learn from its own mistakes," Harry quipped before shaking his head.

"Anyway, it was practically like clockwork, every twenty or thirty years. Occasionally we'd reach forty years, but inevitably some moron would rise up, collect some followers, kill some non-magicals first, then move on to magicals, and think that he or she could then enslave the world."

"The first Dark Lord I fought wanted to take over and used the belief in blood purity dogma to support his bid for a goal. He was the last one to argue about pure bloodedness," Harry shook his head and his eyes drifted upward as he drifted into memory.

"Of course, after we had proved the idiocy of that particular concept and how it would eventually lead to destruction. It became about being able to trace _some_ ancestry in the wizarding world. The next two or three supported those causes. Then it was about upholding the traditions that had been in place for generations," Harry rolled his eyes. "Like I said, stagnant."

"After that it was about whether or not to reveal ourselves to some of the non-magicals. A cause that my one of my own great granddaughters spearheaded. Of course I kinda lost track what their motives were after that. I didn't much care truth be told. Mostly it was some manufactured excuse for some arsewipe to try and lord his or her amazingness over others."

"Some of them would try to be embed their designs in political movements, some would be sneaky, others not so much. Eventually they would cross the line and start killing people and commit an atrocity or two to prove either their power or their conviction. If I wasn't particularly paying attention to the news, I'd get an owl or something pleading for help and take a couple of days and hunt the idiot and most of their followers down," Harry sighed a bit, "Of course it wasn't entirely a good thing,"

He met their gazes, with a weary one of his own. "To an extent that backfired too. The wizarding world slowly began to get complacent, and just expected me to always be there to save them."

"Why, were you the only one who fought?" asked Ahsoka, looking up at him, confusion easily shown on her face.

"There's a saying in part of my homeworld. Vigilance is the eternal price of freedom. The magical world though, never had true freedom. They were always ruled by the most powerful, the richest, or the loudest... in that order. Most were despots and tyrants. No one truly even knew what genuine 'vigilance' was in regards to their own liberties," Harry said, his tone slipping into that of an experienced teacher.

"So it wasn't worth fighting for others when they wouldn't even fight for themselves properly?" ventured Ahsoka after a few moments, which Harry nodded his agreement. Shaak Ti visibly didn't agree with this statement, while Aayla merely looked uncomfortable with the concept. Harry didn't stop to elaborate on this to convince either of the two elder Jedi.

"Anyway… I got tired of my only interactions with the rest of society being to beat down rising dark lords. First I started going incognito into the non-magical world. It was mostly to relieve boredom. I didn't really have anything I wanted to do. I just… sort of wandered," Harry reminisced as he chuckled a little bit. "I usually ended up doing whatever caught my interest. More often than not I fell into odd jobs that would keep me entertained for a few months. I once spent eighteen months on a deep sea fishing vessel."

"Being a bartender was always fun. Drunk people have the most interesting stories. And they tend to be entertaining, especially near big colleges. Also they'll drink anything with a funny name and alcohol in it," Harry smiled wistfully, "But even constantly moving changing identities and disappearing got old."

"When that bored me, I went through muggle school a few times. I even have a few doctorates stashed somewhere around here," Harry waved his hand carelessly towards the trunks Dobby had brought. "I did totally mundane jobs like worked in fuel stations or fast food places, just so I could force myself to keep abreast of modern cultures and not just turn into a complete hermit."

"So, I eventually started to take... leaves of absence I guess you could say," Harry frowned, the words weren't quite right but they were accurate enough for these purposes. "I turned back to my roots and just delved into magic itself. Research, experimentation, exploration. Anything so that I wouldn't be out in public, and watched with awe, or anger or fear wherever I went."

"Of course… I came out about once every twenty-five to thirty-five years. And usually they would have a dark lord starting to make trouble. After the inevitable fight, I'd take a year or so, immerse myself somewhere in popular culture or areas of non-magical research that interested me. I can say for certain that many fads are cyclical especially clothes and music. But otherwise, I had no contact with the world. My children had all passed, and so had their children, and their children as well. So I didn't really have anything keeping me engaged,"

"One time, because of an… accident... in my research, I actually went way more than my usual length of solitude," Harry grimaced at that admittance. "I lost at least two hundred years by my reckoning, though I'm a little fuzzy on exact dates."

"How do you just… _lose_ two hundred years?" Ahsoka blurted with wide eyes.

Harry looked sheepish and looked down and mumbled something unintelligible.

"What was that?" Ahsoka leaned closer instinctively, with her montrals she had heard him mumble something that sounded like, "Bacon."

"I had an accident in my potions lab. I was attempting to see if a potion could be made to send a person back in time," Harry started to explain.

"Travel in time? That's… impossible…" Aayla blurted out looking stunned.

"Huh? No, not really. I used to have time turners; necklaces that could be used to take a person back about a day," Harry's tone was still embarrassed so he wasn't taking stock of the astonished looks once more directed his way.

"But after going back more than a day or so they get titchy and super unreliable. Apparently they have a nasty habit of exploding with… bad effects. Besides, I was trying to come up with a way that replicated the effect but rendered a person sorta out of phase with reality until they synced up back with their time," Harry ignored the disbelieving expressions on their faces. He realized how far out it would sound to them. "My goal was to observe big events in history without any danger of stepping on a butterfly and accidently sending history spiraling off course."

"Anyway Dobby brought me some bacon sandwiches that I attempted to eat while I continued working, only to accidentally have some bacon fall out of the sandwich, with still a bit of hot grease on the pieces, and one landed on a time turner I had sitting out on the desk. The extreme temperature change from the grease cracked the glass on it open, spilled the dust everywhere, including into the potion I was trying to make, and the entire thing exploded," Harry ran a hand through his hair in embarrassment.

"Miss Daphy always warned Master Harry Potter that eating and potions was bad mix. But did Master Harry Potter listen? Nooooo." Dobby's voice floated up, though he didn't seem to appear anywhere.

"Yes… thank you, Dobby," Harry said loudly with a resigned sigh. "It caused some sort of time dilation effect over everything under my wards. It also completely drained the power of all the time turners I had within the wards at the time, rendering them inert. Dunno why. For me it seemed to only last an instant. But when I left to clean up I noticed it was not only daytime, but also the middle of winter outside."

"I just hadn't realized how much time had passed. So I went to look… and when I ventured out into the world, I found among other things they were using this entirely new dating system based on stars and such, so I had no clue what the actual date was. Of course it didn't help that the planet was engulfed in a true World War either."

"I never did figure out what exactly happened in the explosion. But I figured the first time I meddled with time, I almost died but saved my godfather. The second time there was an explosion and froze me for centuries. I decided that it was just best I not meddle with time anymore. I'd hate to think what would happen if I did it for a third time," Harry smiled mirthlessly.

"Your planet was at war?" Ahsoka interjected, her voice stretched a little bit as she tried to focus Harry since she knew any discussion they would have on what he had just said about time travel would likely consume a large amount of conversation, preventing them from the answers they really were after.

"It was a turf war. A pair of wizards… brothers, went as bad… if not worse than the Dark Lord that killed my parents. Only now the muggle world was completely aware of magic. These brothers had completely involved the entire world in their dispute," Harry shook his head, "It had been done before. But not to this extent."

"The entire world was engulfed due to their little pissing match," Harry ran a hand through his hair with a weary sigh, "It was a true war, wizards using magic and muggles the best technology they could muster. Left entire regions of the planet decimated. Which was stupid because humans had only just begun to colonize a nearby planet at that point. And a journey between planets at a close distance within a solar system still took months."

"Not that non-magical armies were much of a true threat to those causing the war, just all those pesky innocent bystanders," Harry was momentarily distracted as Hedwig nuzzled into the side of his head again, causing him to reach up and stroke her feathers lightly. "As you may have gathered from my little display earlier… when a wizard who has skills and power goes to war, It takes a… great deal to stop them."

"These two dark morons… they were determined to conquer as they felt it was their right. They had killed… thousands, possibly tens of thousands each personally, and tens of millions through proxies in their bids for power," Harry shook his head, his expression filled with sorrow. "I was horrified. I didn't care about alliances or the armies they gathered. Neither ever seemed to be able to claim victory when they fought one of their seemingly monthly duels."

"I didn't even have to wait long for one of their duels. It was less than a week actually, if I recall correctly. They were fighting in a mountain range nearby on the continent that I lived. That sort of magical use, at least on that scale, is near impossible to hide. So I did what I had always done. I stepped in," Harry noticed that all three women seemed to be hanging onto the words as he described them.

"Of course my appearance was the one thing that seemed to be able to force the two Dark arseholes to work together. They were both powerful, and as I discovered in the fight, skilled and clever. Truth be told it was probably one of the hardest battles I ever had, save for the first Dark Lord, and I was a hell of a lot less skilled when I fought him," Harry shook his head with a weary sigh. "Not that it did them any good. In the end, I bested them both."

He looked up to meet the eyes of the women listening to him, as he paused for several moments, before adding, "Only to find out after I killed them both, that they were my own family. My many-times great grandchildren,"

Ahsoka gasped and put her hand to her mouth. Both Shaak Ti and Aayla had their brows raised in surprise but remained silent.

"Of course I hadn't figured out who they were. Mostly I just didn't care. And they didn't go by the name Potter or Black… at least not publically. But apparently their parents had married and rejoined the two families. Parents they had each killed one of." Harry gestured somewhat helplessly "I didn't do much of any research beforehand to figure out who they were, just enough on what they had done to make sure they were Dark Lords. Needless to say, butchering entire towns to inspire fear was kind of their modus operandi."

"And the names they went by certainly didn't tip me off. They had each made up these ridiculous sounding names for themselves. The mindset of 'I am an evil badass and my name should be impressive and intimidating' seems to be something of a rite of passage for Dark Lords, to make up their own names. I only know of two Dark Lords that hadn't done that, and their names were bad enough as it was," Harry shook his head and refocused on the topic.

"Anyway, their actions, and my re-emergence from hiding from what the public apparently deemed as my '_responsibilities to maintain the peace_' was finally the excuse the entire world looked for to have another go at me," he said as he looked at them, an extreme sense of weariness about him.

"You'll find, eventually, that the world, media… everyone. They love their heroes, but even more than that… they love tearing their heroes down," his eyes fell on Ahsoka, and she flinched, realizing that was exactly what she had gone through.

"Ahsoka just finished experiencing that particular phenomenon. It happened to me all the time as a teenager and young adult, and I was surprised it took them as long as it did to do it to me again. Though I'm sure that had something to do with my wives' political acumen, and after they passed it had become cultural. But… after I killed the two Dark Lords there was an immediate demand from both magicals and mundanes that I show up and answer for the crimes committed by people I had never met but bore my name, and of course the crimes their followers committed,"

"So, I said 'screw it'. I was done saving these people. I saved them from the newest Dark Lords oppressing and terrorizing the entire planet… all in a matter of a week, when they'd been struggling to form an effective resistance against the two idiots for apparently more than twenty years. During the course of which they managed to destroy about half of the damn planet."

Disgust was once more prevalent in Harry's voice as he continued, "It was something they had been slow to stop initially, because a portion of magicals were eager to ignore events, mostly because the 'right kind' of people weren't dying. A definition that changed depending on who you were talking to,"

"Then, when I killed the two brothers, several families whose predecessors had disliked me and had obviously passed that on managed to convince the public that I obviously was too powerful to continue living. That I was obviously a dark and evil wizard using dark rituals to keep myself alive if I never seemed to die. Far past the age of what any other wizard had ever been recorded dying at without some sort of known artificial means to prolong their lives,"

Harry's voice turned sarcastic, "I'm sure it had _nothing_ to do with the fact that, through the simple process of time, and having goblins manage my affairs, I had amassed a significant percentage of ownership of things in their economies. A percentage that only increased upon the deaths of my wayward however many greats grandchildren. Enough interests banded together to bribe enough people to order a hunt for me."

Harry chuckled in amusement to himself as his eyes got a faraway look in them, "Rather stupid considering they couldn't take out the two Dark Lords that I had just destroyed for them. But no one ever accused the masses of brilliance."

SIlence fell after that comment as the three Jedi waited for him to continue, but he did not continue.

It took nearly a minute but Ahsoka realized that Harry had spaced out on them again. She exchanged a look with Aayla, who met her gaze with a concerned one of her own. Rather than snap her fingers, or nudge him in the side with her elbow Ahsoka decided to try something else. She concentrated on the connection she felt with Harry, and tried to give him a little bit of a mental nudge through it.

It took several attempts for her to figure out a way to do it. When she did though , the effect was immediate. Harry seemed to snap out of it with a shake of his head. He glanced down at her quickly and actually looked embarrassed for a moment before he continued as if he hadn't paused at all. Though he did hug her gently around the shoulders in thanks.

"At that point I decided I had enough. I had neither the desire or interest to fight a full scale war with the various governments. Governments filled with the descendants of people I knew. And a war that would cost them a lot of lives, and one that, even while holding to my principles, I thought they would very likely _lose_. I realized that I had done my part. It was about bloody time for them to grow the hell up."

"I decided to leave," Harry slumped a little bit and his eyes downcast, clearly remembering, as his fingers tracing patterns on the arm of the couch. "I… used an artifact I have, to summon the spirits of the dead temporarily to speak to my wives. I apologized to them for killing the final offspring of the family we made."

"They both scolded me for blaming myself…"

Then Harry snorted, "Well, that's not quite right. They called me a bloody moron for even considering the mass murdering psychopaths family in the first place considering how much they'd spit on everything our family had stood for. And they made me promise I would stop living exclusively for others, and try to find my own peace and to try and be happy for myself, and not try and acquire happiness by granting it to others," Harry spoke softly.

"How's that going for you?" Ahsoka asked, genuine curiosity in her voice.

"Heh…" Harry smiled wryly, "Let's just call it a work in progress,"

"Artifact?" Shaak Ti echoed. "You have an artifact which allows you to commune with the dead?" She was really struggling to keep all of her doubts down. Not aging, time travel, and now connecting with the dead. He talked about it like it was so commonplace and not these fantastic stories of amazing achievements. Similar to the things that were regarded as near myth in the Jedi Order.

"Yes, but that's another long story for another day," Harry waved that question off. He saw the looks of discontent that spread on both Shaak Ti and Aayla's face at his dismissal of that question, though Ahsoka's eyes flickered in understanding. He was sure they wanted to ask, but he had warned them he wasn't going to answer every question that they had of him.

"But… that brings me to how I got here," Harry grinned a bit.

Shaak Ti nodded, she was keeping quiet and trying not to press too many questions, time travel, immortality. If she hadn't been given such a warning about keeping an open mind she would have long past reached the point where she was willing to listen to the stories. "I'll admit to still being very curious about that. You've said several times that your people were still pre-hyperspace in technology?"

Harry nodded and actually chuckled a little despite his seriousness a moment earlier. "Yes. Easily several hundred years away. Ships didn't have shields. Artificial Gravity wasn't even a glimmer in their mind's eye. Given the wars, especially the recent wizarding one they hadn't advanced very far into space travel yet. The people on our world had only recently landed on the nearest planet in an attempt to colonize. And from what I gathered that was a bloody disaster."

Ahsoka tilted her head curiously as her fingers rain over one of her lekku in consideration, "Then how did you get off planet… and here?"

"And where in the galaxy is your actual home?" Aayla added.

Harry shrugged slightly, "To be honest like I said earlier, I haven't the foggiest. I have yet to find where my home planet is on any star map. I can't even find key nebula and larger stars that were part of the major constellations that match those visible from my planet in our galaxy within this galaxy. The constellations would obviously look different from other places in the galaxy, but major nebula should be somewhat easy to identify,"

"I remember seeing an estimate of where Earth was located from some of my astronomy classes, and it was in one of the outer arms of the galaxy, which would easily place it at the furthest edges of wild space since it's not in any of the known sectors of the galaxy," Harry explained and then looked sheepish, "Though I probably should have paid a bit more attention in astronomy. It just bored me to tears."

He shook his head, and stroked his fingers through Hedwig's feathers as he turned to Ahsoka, "As for how I got off planet. I stepped through a magical portal that I had always found myself drawn to. One that our people called the 'Veil of Death', as anyone who stepped through supposedly was sent on a one way trip to the afterlife."

"Why would you do that?" Ahsoka gasped after a second of considering his words. Her voice breaking slightly. This was the second time Harry had mentioned actually attempting to off himself and it was quite jarring to her. The idea of him wanting to die… she felt a deep pang in her heart at the idea of him even contemplating it.

Harry chuckled and ran a sheepish hand through his hair, "Well, I wasn't sure if it _was _a one way ticket to meet the maker or if it was something else. But as I mentioned, I was always drawn to it and I spent years and years examining it and tossing things through. Over my years researching it, I pondered the possibility that it was a portal to someplace else, and the only reason people said it lead to one's death was because no one had come back from it."

Harry chuckled mirthlessly, "If I was wrong, it was no big deal. I'd certainly lived long enough, done enough good deeds. Hell... I'd certainly tried other ways of offing myself in the name of pure experimentation."

His statement elicited more raised eyebrows all around the table, but Harry didn't seem to realize he let that slip, and didn't stop to address the concerns the comment engendered, "I lost my Godfather through that very same magical portal… for lack of a better phrase. Whoever had built it was long since lost to the extreme distant past of my world. Ten thousand years or more. All we knew about it is… we didn't know where it went, and that anything that went in, didn't come out,"

"For a long while, it was called the 'Veil of Death', simply because some moron got it into their minds that since nothing came out of it, that it must be a divine gift for the magicals to judge wrong-doers, and that evil people wouldn't return, and if they ever threw an innocent person in, they would be returned," The looks of disgust on the faces of the three Force users present gave clear portents as to what they thought of that scenario.

"But me, I wanted to know if it perhaps led somewhere else. I wanted to crack the mystery of that thing. I wanted to know where my Godfather went. I wanted to see if I could find what happened to him," Harry elaborated as he shrugged a bit uncomfortably.

"I had spent decades, on and off, over the years cloaked, warded, and silenced in front of that thing, studying it, tossing objects through it, poking it with sticks, all without anyone knowing I was even there, in the deepest most secure area of my government," Harry chuckled a little bit remembering that he had indeed at one point been poking it with sticks.

"My world continuing to be stupid was simply the last nudge I needed so I finally decided to find out where it lead. It turns out, it certainly wasn't a system of judgment at all. Nor did it send me to my death," Harry looked around suddenly. "Unless of course this is the afterlife. And… I kinda doubt that."

"It was a Gateway. A Portal. Leading definitely to somewhere 'else'. It was one that didn't obey the rules of space, time… anything. At least no laws of governance that I'd ever been exposed to."

"Of course when I left, I ultimately decided to take everything I owned," he waved his hand airily around the ship, "As I definitely wasn't going to leave all my money to the people who now blamed me for their lack of backbone."

"That includes me!" the Hat interjected, sounding a combination of amused and irritated.

Harry got a sheepish look on his face, "Yeah I found the Hat in the vaults that I emptied out. At the time, I had no idea how it and a bunch of other artifacts got there."

"Many portraits and items were magically sent there from the castle right before it was destroyed," The Hat explained plainly. "We were sent to be held in trust by the last living person who had pulled Gryffindor's sword from within me. In the hopes that we would be restored at the next institute of learning created for Magic. Not that we'd all get dragged along with some crazy-ass wizard on a trip through the Veil."

"Not my fault. I didn't even know you were there at the time or I'd have left you behind. I don't really need an animated dishrag," Harry responded with shrug.

"Hmmph. Not like the magicals had listened to us in centuries anyway," the Hat grumbled, "Too many families complaining when I sorted them into a house their family didn't want them to be."

Harry shook his head and refrained from responding, instead continued with his story. "Before I went through the Veil, I attempted to set spells up so that others wouldn't be able to follow. Trying to hide the Veil, make it disappear. I wanted to modify it so I couldn't ever be followed, but something around the Veil itself prevented me from doing so."

"Perhaps it was preventing me in case others might someday want to make the same journey. I'm not sure. I guess it's a small comfort that even now there are still things I have to learn about magic," he had a small smile as he said that. It was clear that it was very reassuring to him.

"Without any fanfare, I stepped through the Veil, Hedwig and Dobby in tow… by their own insistence. I think they both wanted to keep me out of trouble," Harry said. The bird perched on his shoulder barked and then whacked him on the side of his head with her wing as if to scold him for being stubborn.

"The journey was… insane," he turned to Aayla and Ahsoka, "Imagine getting drunk and then taking one of my portkeys… only ramped by up a thousand times. That's kind of what it was like."

All three women blanched at that, remembering their singular experience with portkeys.

"I eventually found myself in a place I'd never seen before, and obviously on a world _much_ more advanced than Earth was. That was nearly twenty or so years ago," Harry shrugged, "Of course I found myself standing on what I discovered was a ship, and standing on some hot tea on the floor. Mug and all."

"That observation was only important because it was the same mug of tea I'd thrown through the Veil a long time earlier. So either physical laws worked differently, or time passed differently on different sides of the veil. Which leads me to believe this might be another dimension," Harry looked particularly pleased with that deduction.

"Of course, by the time I get my bearings I've got these weird robots all over the place surrounding me," Harry shook his head.

"You found yourself standing on a ship with droids everywhere?" Ahsoka asked incredulously.

"I know, for a moment I thought heaven or hell was just really bloody weird," Harry nodded, "Then one of the robots fired a gun at me. That at least was something I was familiar with. I figured that was just the Harry Potter luck,"

"I was dodging swipes and potshots from guard droids, and I had no idea where I was. It turns out I was on a planet and ended up on a ship that was on the ground at a spaceport. Couple of the bots fired at the three of us. I certainly didn't like or approve of that, so I blasted them back," Harry snickered a bit. "Didn't seem to get the point. More seemed to keep coming,"

"Thankfully before I stepped through the Veil, I was at least a little prepared. After I realized that I wasn't dead, I quickly took a special potion I had that was called _felix felicis, _or if you prefer… Liquid Luck," he turned to look at Ahsoka expectantly, always enjoying her incredulity at the naming conventions of wizards.

"Liquid Luck?" asked Ahsoka, definitely amused at the name, as she shook her head slightly, "Does that actually do what the name implies?"

Harry nodded. "Yeah, it's a ridiculously difficult potion to brew. Takes preparation steps that are down to the second over a multi-month period. Any mistake turns it into a deadly poison, or worse,"

"In my experience there is no such thing as luck," Shaak Ti couldn't stop herself from interjecting.

Harry was about to say something when he glanced at her, then chuckled before he muttered, "I guess that answers that question,"

As Harry continued to quietly laugh to himself, Aayla couldn't help but ask, "What question?"

He looked at her, the smirk of mischief firmly in place on his lips, then said, "Clearly she's never gotten lucky."

Ahsoka didn't even bother to let the joke settle, nor allow either of the Jedi to possibly voice their objections to the lewd question, she just nudged Harry lightly in the side with her elbow, that he took good naturedly, before she asked, "You said if you mess it up, that it turns into a deadly poison, or worse. What's worse?"

"There are, after all, far worse fates in the world than death…" Harry said ominously.

"Like?" asked Aayla, who was obviously intrigued about the consequences of a badly brewed 'potion'. Nor was she put off by Harry's sudden ominous demeanor.

"Well… in this case, bad luck for the rest of your life. Like, extreme bad luck." Harry shook his head, "You'd be forever plagued by slipping down stairwells, having doors opened into your face, stabbing and cutting yourself while you eat. Stuff like that,"

"For the rest of your life?" echoed Ahsoka faintly.

"Yeah. My first potion's instructor. I pretty much assume he brewed a bad batch at some point. Would explain the pathetic life he lead. Honestly, dying a forty year old virgin," he repeated, doing his best to not look at Shaak Ti and point out the obvious parallels. "Thankfully despite a rough start, mostly thanks to his non-teaching, I happen to be a rather skilled potion maker."

He shook himself, "So there I was, no clue where the bloody hell I had ended up, much less how to operate anything other how to not stall a low-tech atmo-exclusive aircraft, when I took the potion."

"Suddenly, I found the urge to just start running instead of standing my ground and taking on wave after wave of automatons. I found myself inside a room with a lot of buttons," He snorted, "I just thought it was a good idea to then start pressing said buttons."

"I managed to get the ship into the air, then left the atmosphere, somehow evading all the ships launched to stop me. Then, unknowingly, I managed to hit enough buttons randomly to key in a hyperspace course…. with no vector or coordinates from a navicomputer, all without even knowing I was actually plotting a hyperspace route…. or even that there was such a thing."

Gasps came from both of them, and Ahsoka just barely beat Aayla in shouting, "You did _what?_"

He smiled, a smile that seemed like it fit on the face of every spice smuggler who managed the Kessel Run near the Maw and managed it under fifteen parsecs. "I didn't even know what it was. I knew it was going up. Then I was in space. Then suddenly… going really fast,"

At their disbelieving stares, he huffed slightly. "Liquid luck does exactly what it sounds like,"

"Not only did I live through the hyperspace jump, but I found something shocking and interesting when I let the ship revert to real space on a whim," his eyes twinkled

When both of the two females looked at him, egging him on to continue the story, he smiled benignly "Oh come now. You can't expect me to tell you _all_ of my secrets, can you?"

He chuckled at their looks of frustration and shook his head, "Anyway, I spent the next two years, in relative privacy figuring out exactly what Harry Potter had gotten himself into this time."

"I was learning about the ship I'd sorta accidentally on-purpose stole," Harry snickered a little bit. "Thankfully I wasn't stupidly ignorant of the non magical world before I left, like so many witches and wizards I once knew, otherwise I probably would have blown the ship up or something,"

"I had to teach myself well… pretty much everything," Harry shrugged, "Luckily the ship had a lot of instructional vids that helped. Plus I ended up emerging in a place that had tons of fuel just laying around not being used at the time,"

"Dobby as always kept me fed," Harry grinned. "After I felt confident enough to continue piloting I went on about my way exploring this new galaxy. That was nearly seventeen years ago."

"That be twenty two years ago," Dobby's voice once more interjected.

"Thank you Dobby," Harry replied with an exasperated sigh and roll of his eyes.

"I admit that I do tend to lose track." He said somewhat sheepishly at Ahsoka's smirking gaze. Then he sat back slightly prepared for their responses, a small smile on his face as he looked at their different expressions.

Ahsoka spoke slowly, "You came through a Magic Portal? One you thought might kill you or might take you somewhere never to return?"

Harry smiled wryly and nodded wordlessly.

Shaak TI's reply was slower and more deliberate. "When you first started your tale I thought that perhaps years passed far faster on your world than ours. That is why you claimed to be so old and live so long. But… that doesn't seem to be the case.

Harry shook his head, "Actually that's one of many odd coincidences I've found in this galaxy. It's lead me to some… curious hypotheses."

Shaak Ti's eyes narrowed in consideration. "Curious hypotheses?"

Harry shrugged slightly, "If I tell you you're going to think I'm completely insane, especially as I haven't any solid proof."

Aayla snorted and crossed her arms over her chest as she leaned back in her chair, "Oh please, the background establishing you as an immortal wizard, wielding magic, stepping through a magic death portal, and drinking liquidized luck was totally logical."

She then gestured airily with one hand, "But _this_ is the part where you think you're going to sound crazy?"

Harry managed a smile, her tone wasn't derisive, rather amused. So he took it in the tone it was intended. "I think that Wizards… or maybe people from my world have been coming through the portal for a long time. And they've had an impact on your… galaxy,"

"How do you figure?" Ahsoka asked, looking very interested.

"In part it's just a bunch of coincidences and a hunch I have but… look," Harry said as he sighed slightly. "You use nearly the same calendar as my world. Our calendar has three hundred and sixty-five days, yours has three hundred and sixty-eight,"

"That doesn't mean anything, the rotation of your planet matches standard time, so do several major and culturally significant planets," Aayla responded with a furrowed brow. "At least ones that were probably around and prominent when the galactic calendar was determined."

Harry looked up at her and raised an eyebrow speaking deliberate with deliberate emphasis, "A year separated into twelve months and into days that are twenty-four hours long?"

That seemed to catch not only Aayla but the other two off guard as well.

"Then there are the units you measure for distance, meters and kilometers as well as weight, grams and kilos and such. The exact units of measure developed on my world, in a country called France, not long after the Statute of Secrecy came into effect," Harry gestured around, "But it's the exact same here, accepted as the galactic standard."

Harry gestured at the three Jedi, "Then there's the language you're speaking,"

"Galactic Basic?" Shaak Ti clarified. "It has been in use in the Republic for millennia."

"Sounds like English to me," Harry replied. "Now there a lot of the other languages I've never heard before, but English is what I grew up speaking. _We _trace the origins and evolution of it on my world to its original Latin roots. But somehow coincidentally, the same language has become standard here, though supposedly its roots are from Coruscant with portions of entirely different languages present."

"Galactic Basic is written using the Aurebesh alphabet. The symbols of which I grant are completely different from our world… at least at first glance," Harry gestured toward one of the books on his table. ""Until you look deeper and realize that there are 26 symbols for individual letters, and a further eight for the most common English combinations that make different sounds than their combinations would indicate. The former of which is exactly the same as on my world. The latter of which just makes very great amount of sense."

"I haven't dug through all of my books yet, but what I have show that the symbols share characteristics with some writings from my world, Egyptian, Sumerian, and heavy mandarin influence," Harry tapped his fingers on the arm of the chair. "But one thing I am definitely not is linguistic expert. So again, possibly all supposition and coincidence."

"Then there's the Jedi," Harry stated. "I've considered the notion a time or two in the past, but never looked far enough into it. I was more focused on history and exploration, but several things Ahsoka has said have made me more suspicious than ever,"

"How so?" Shaak Ti asked, glancing over at Ahsoka who was looking thoughtful as she considered the conversations she'd had with Harry and the comments he had made.

Eventually, after a nod from Harry that she could speak her mind, she slowly made her own observation out loud, "Yeah, you've said a few times that it's like a wizard handed someone else an occlumency book. That person only got through the first chapter and then sorta worked out a limited amount they could do from there."

Harry snapped a finger at the statement and gave Ahsoka a look of triumph as he pointed at her an approving smile on his face, "I've wondered if a wizard without his wand may have come through and originally tried to replicate what he could do with a modicum of skill in wandless magic. Because that seems to be basically all that Jedi are capable of. Well… that and a frightening obsession with divination and seeing the future," Harry shook his head, disgust tingeing his last comment.

There were doubtful looks on two faces, while Ahsoka's eyes were narrowed in thought.

Harry shrugged in response, "Like I said, it's _just_ a hypothesis without any proof beyond many things that can be chalked up to coincidence. But, you know what they say when there are coincidence after coincidence occurring…"

"So you're saying you believe someone from your planet, kick-started not only the Jedi Order twenty five millennia ago, but they also standardized most of the units of measurement still used today?" Shaak Ti said a bit incredulously.

When Harry nodded, Aayla pounced on the biggest hole in his theory, "But you also said that your Force-based society has only been around for around seven and a half thousand years."

"That _is_ a whole lot less than twenty-five thousand," added Ahsoka added with a smile, thoroughly enjoying playing devil's advocate.

Harry nodded agreeably, though a resigned look crossed his face. "Here's where it gets confusing,"

"Oh? We're just now getting there? Good, I was worried _Master,"_ Ahsoka asked, amusement in her voice as she looked up at Harry.

Harry laughed, some of the tension leaving his face at her teasing tone. "Possibly… because I don't think the Veil was a linear path anywhere."

At the frowns of confusion on their face he nodded expectantly. "When I was studying it. I sent things through the Veil."

"Sent things through?" echoed Aayla slowly, suspicion painting her features. "Like the drinking cup you mentioned earlier?"

"What sort of things?" Shaak Ti clarified, also watching intently.

Harry shrugged, "Lots of things. Things with tracking charms on them. Tracer spells, beacon spells, things I designed myself. But also regular objects. I tried a video camera once and it completely fried it when I pulled it back out, after partially putting it through."

"Occasionally… I… err… got frustrated and tossed things through," He said with another sheepish look on his face.

"On one of those occasions, right before my potions and time accident, before I came through, I tossed a cup of hot tea Dobby had just brought me through the portal. When I came through on my own journey I found that specific cup of tea on the ground, cup shattered, tea still wet and warm," Harry explained. "And before you ask, I'm sure it was my mug because Dobby had given it to me for my birthday and it had my name on it,"

"Just your name?" Ahsoka asked.

"Well, 'Great Master Harry Potter', with the 'e' and 'a' flipped in great, and Harry spelled with one 'r', and Potter spelled with one 't'," Harry said, looking abashed. "I was investigating that cup, half standing there in absolute shock, when things started shooting at me."

That caused frowns on all the faces there but Harry pressed on. "When I thought about it, I first thought that maybe time itself traveled differently in the portal. But that didn't make sense either since none of the other things I had sent after the cup had been around too."

"I remember as an experiment that I once spent a few years, tossing in a thousand galleons in at the pace of one a day, each one with a number etched on them. All of them with a powerful tracking charm. Including one I sent a few hours before I took my own journey," Harry's expression twisted into a wry smile.

"I discovered several on Kashyyyk. Some were in the ground, some in the trees, and one was in the trunk of a tree 100 meters north of my home. The tree had grown around it showing that it had been there for a very _very_ long time. Millennia even. I make a habit of checking for tracking charms on the objects I sent through. I must have sent about fifteen hundred galleons, plus a few dozen other items. Some with messages and such on them that I hoped someone might be able to respond to."

"I've discovered ten of the galleons… and the cup of tea," Harry explained.

"Five were on Kashyyyk at different points around the planet. One was being sold on a trinket from a vendor in Nar Shaddaa that he hadn't even realized was in his shop. It was one of the first ones I sent through over a millennia ago by my reckoning, but the weak notice me not charm I was still applying hadn't even worn off," Harry shook his head. "Something that should have happened centuries earlier,"

"Of course I later stopped putting notice-me-not charms on them in the hopes that they might be noticed by non-magicals," Harry chuckled a bit. "One was on this bloody desert planet that I hope never to see again. Another on this swamp planet that was miserable as well. No interest in going there again anytime soon either."

Harry's eyes rolled to the ceiling as he mentally counted them in his head, "One was on Coruscant, not far from the Jedi Temple."

"I found one on the volcanic planet of Queyta. It was under some flowing lava, if it hadn't been magical it would have melted," Harry said as he shook his head. "You Jedi were having one of your dust ups with one of those Sith, so you made quite a bit of noise."

"But yes, based on those facts, I don't think it was a linear path through the Veil, and I think it's rather obvious that it does not come out in the same place all the time. I think things that go through arrive in different times, and different places," Harry explained quietly.

Ahsoka snapped her fingers suddenly. "That was what was on the list you gave the slicer?" Her eyes had narrowed shrewdly, as she looked to Harry for confirmation rather than asking the question.

"Sharp as a tack," Harry raised an eyebrow impressed she put it together. "You are correct, mostly. I had all the historical records I could find of anyone that went through the Veil, as well as any objects myself, or other Unsp- magical researchers sent through. I gave it to the slicer with detailed descriptions to see if he could unearth anything anywhere. Historically or not."

"You're looking for someone specifically though," Ahsoka pressed, remembering the amount mentioned for one of the names.

Harry regarded her thoughtfully for several moments before he finally nodded. "I'm looking for traces of my godfather, Sirius Black. He went through the Veil when I was fifteen. Though based on what I've learned on the that means approximately nothing here."

Aayla however was frowning, "So.. you're hoping he hasn't come through yet? Or you're hoping that you'll find news of him? Mostly… based on a cup of tea?"

Harry smiled wryly. "To an extent, mostly I'm just hoping I may find out what happened to him,"

Shaak Ti spoke softly, her voice without judgment. "You realize _if_ your theory is correct," she emphasized the if, "It's possible he materialized somewhere dead? Or is somewhere unconducive to life?"

Harry nodded though a small smile crossed his face that she didn't immediately dismiss his words "I do realize that…. though there is one other bit of information that hopefully counters that possibility,"

All three women raised their eyebrows expectantly.

Harry regarded them thoughtfully before shrugging slightly. He held up his hand on the arm over Ahsoka's shoulders, with palm facing himself. A ring adorned his hand where they would have sworn his hands were bare before. "This is the Potter family ring. It adorns the acknowledged head of the Potter family."

"I abdicated and passed the head of both the Potter and Black lines to my two eldest sons. The rings continued on down from father to son from there. When I killed the two dark wizards… my descendents, the rings returned to me, signaling that I was the last person capable of actually wearing them," Harry scowled a little bit. It was the reason that he had realized exactly who the identities of the two brothers were and that they represented the last of his family, because they had killed most of the others.

"Not really something I expected. but as I remained in the family even if I had passed them on… I was left as sort of an emeritus position in case the rings could not be passed on. Anyway, I wore both rings when I stepped through the Veil," Harry looked somewhat sheepish. "I'll admit, it took awhile to notice but when I arrived here, I only had one of the rings."

He waited but the response wasn't what he expected.

"You could have merely lost it on the journey or misplaced it…" Aayla ventured.

Harry shook his head. "Nothing short of removing my finger will move this ring. And if that happens, it will simply relocate to another finger. It's magically tied to the head of the Potter family.

Aayla frowned, "So…" clearly she was not following, and from the looks on the others faces they weren't either.

Harry slumped a bit. "So I'm hoping that it's not on my finger because there is another head of the Black family somewhere out there… recognized or not. Maybe Sirius arrived and had the life that was robbed of him with a wife and kids."

Harry got a faraway look and smiled fondly. "Or, knowing him, no wives and lots of kids with lots of angry mothers who may or may not already be married… as well as whose names he struggled to recall."

Eventually he looked at the table before him, a mixture of despair, resignation, and weariness on his face as he quietly said, "A long shot… I'm well aware, you don't need to tell me. But… I hold out hope."

Shaak Ti snapped her fingers suddenly, "That explains the bounty hunter application,"

Harry blinked a moment and then tilted his head to regard her, his expression, "I'm afraid you've lost me."

Aayla turned to her friend, not following, "You've lost me as well, Master Ti."

"It has bugged me, someone who seemed to want anonymity, especially from the Jedi, put information that could identify him on his ship's registry and something easily obtainable like bounty hunter's guild registration information," Shaak Ti explained, her tone filled with a bit of satisfaction.

"That, along with a name that appeared genuine for the most part. That was all done in order make a visible presence in case someone who may have known you or your time period searched for you as well," Shaak Ti posited.

Harry blinked and looked stumped for a moment. "Huh. Honestly... I never thought about that,"

He looked abashed and actually blushed. "The application was mostly to amuse myself when I was bored during a trip through hyperspace."

Ahsoka giggled a bit though Shaak Ti and Aayla both regarded him blankly, though Shaak Ti looked as if she had developed a small twitch above one of her eyebrows. When Ahsoka saw the two Jedi's faces, she lost all composure and fell against Harry giggling helplessly.

Harry shrugged, "I never thought about someone actually looking for me. Remember, the Veil was considered a one way step through death. Even despite the evidence to the contrary I've found since coming here, that's still been on the forefront of my mind regarding this place."

Aayla was frowning, but could tell Harry was closing up on this topic. Trying to keep some of the information flowing she switched topics. "Can I ask about Dobby?"

"What about him?" Harry asked, at the non-sequitur.

"He's… very unique. Can I ask… Where did you find him?" Aayla inquired.

Harry chuckled softly a genuine smile on his face. "Truth be told… he found me."

"I have known Dobby since I was twelve years old. Since he tried, several times, to kill me," he said with a fond smile, before he was startled by a pop.

"Dobby's not be trying to kill Master Harry Potter. Dobby's be trying to save him," Dobby interjected as he appeared on the arm of the chair Harry was sitting in with a drink in his hand, which he promptly handed to Harry.

Harry rolled his eyes a little bit at the old argument. "Right. Which is why we have some very clear guidelines on appropriate methods for 'saving' me now."

He turned back to the three women, pausing to take a drink from the glass Dobby had provided, "Needless to say, he's a very good friend,"

Dobby bobbed his head and beamed at Harry, all traces of teasing gone.

"I freed him from his old abusive master. He bonded himself to me. By _choice_," Harry emphasized once more with his eyes flashing slightly. "Dobby knows that I would free him without hesitation at any time he wishes. But that would kill him."

"As I mentioned when I came through the Veil, Dobby and Hedwig insisted on coming with me," Harry gestured at the bird on his shoulder as Dobby nodded vigorously.

"Dobby not be leaving Master Harry Potter alone," The house elf insisted. "Master Harry Potter would get into too much trouble without Dobby,"

"Yes, like you being around has kept me out of trouble," Harry replied dryly.

"Dobby is good, but nobody being _that_ good," Dobby retorted. "Even Missies Daphy and Tonky never manage that."

Harry sighed and shook his head. "Anything else you want to know about Dobby you have to ask him. I don't like speaking for him in situations such as this. He can answer his own questions."

Harry glanced at Ahsoka shook his head slightly. "I think that's enough interrogation for the moment."

He had noticed the deeply thoughtful looks on each of the women's faces. He was preparing to stand up, intending to go back into the ship, to check for any damage the bludgers may have caused to the ship when they impacted, when his attention was snagged.

"Harry?" Ahsoka asked, gripping his arm and holding him in place next to her.

He paused, expecting another question.

Ahsoka waved her hand slightly, obviously reading his expression "No, no more interrogation, can you help me with something else?"

Harry raised an eyebrow curiously in response waiting for her to continue.

"I need your help picking out a crystal for my lightsaber," She said someone timidly.

Harry frowned, "What's the problem?"

"All of the gems you showed me, or at least all of the ones I looked at, have the F- are magical in some way. But I don't know what one might work," Ahsoka admitted.

Still, she really wanted a lightsaber again. She still felt partially naked without it, and she didn't want to feel like a liability should they find themselves in another situation.

Harry opened his mouth to tell her to just pick one, when she continued.

"I… picked out a few, before… my outburst," She trailed off in embarrassment. She winced slightly as she remembered her actions from the previous night. But Harry seemed to be genuine about it not being a bad thing. And, truth be told though she had pretty much collapsed into an exhausted sleep the night before, it had actually been one of the better night's sleep she had ever had.

Since she had been up that morning, she also had to admit that she just… felt better. It was a bit like a large weight had been removed from her shoulders. One that she didn't have any idea she was carrying about. She still held some anger to how she had been treated by the Order, but it was no longer this overwhelming sense of rage that made her want to lash out at Shaak Ti for being a constant reminder of what she had gone through.

She shook her head slightly and refocused the conversation. "But I don't want to just go with one chosen randomly in case whatever magic on them interferes with the saber… or if the piece has historical value or something,"

Harry snorted, "I told you, it's more likely to have a history than any sort of historical value. But if you're that concerned we'll have to wait till we can go back to Kashyyyk and talk to Daphne's portrait. She was the last one to sort through that stuff and examine their history."

Ahsoka looked crestfallen, not knowing when they might get back to Kashyyyk to do so, when Dobby popped in immediately and interjected. "Master Harry not have to do that. Dobby brought empty portraits with him!"

Harry actually looked taken aback by that, "Wait… you what?"

"Master Harry say to Dobby to get everything ready to go. So Dobby got everything!" The little being said proudly.

Harry actually blinked several times as he processed that, before he chuckled, "You'd think after all this time I'd learn to phrase my requests a bit less literally."

"Alright Dobby could you get the alternate frames for my wives and put them on the wall over here?" He gestured to the wall above his desk.

"If anything happens to the ship, after the lives of anyone else, including yourself, protecting and saving them becomes a priority," He added as an afterthought. He wasn't really worried considering how much time and effort he put into making his ship sturdy. If the frames were destroyed he still had the original ones in his house on Kashyyyk. But creating frames that were linked to _specific_ portraits was time consuming and tedious.

Dobby snapped his fingers twice in succession, the first snap had both portraits appear above the desk, and the second seemed to affix them to the wall.

The portraits seemed to come alive after a moment. Tonks, spoke first, "You had us moved?"

Harry smiled wryly, "Dobby was being Dobby again and brought out your other portrait frames."

"Ah." Both portraits said in understanding and in unison.

Harry was completely unaware that Shaak Ti was staring up at the paintings on the wall as they both were crossing their arms and staring down at him.

Daphne's portrait peered down at him still in the robes he had donned for war, "You don't seemed to be wounded in the slightest. Easier than you expected?"

"Not really, it wasn't a magical threat." Harry answered.

"Didn't stop Master Harry from ruining his favorite coat when he lost his arm two days ago!" Dobby popped in to say before popping out again.

"Dobby!" Harry growled.

"Lost your arm?" Daphne asked with a raised eyebrow, while Tonks just sighed and shook her head.

"Little accident with a bad wand and a grenade thing, it was fine. I took care of it. I even took a bit of potion to speed things along and it was good as new. Literally." Harry held up his arm for display.

The two portraits looked at each other and nodded a little bit before they sighed in resignation in unison. "Do try and be more careful," Daphne said, though it seemed more perfunctory advice that she knew he wasn't going to take.

"Was that the explosion we heard earlier? We didn't get a chance to ask before you went and dressed for war." Tonks added after a moment's silence.

Harry frowned as he tilted his head in confusion, and started to respond but his confused response was cut short by Daphne's more wry voice. "I think that likely the more appropriate question is 'what exactly were you doing when you caused the explosion we heard?'"

"I think they mean this morning, when you woke us up." ventured Ahsoka.

"Oh, Oh!" Harry realized, and looked a little bit sheepish, after the events of the past few hours that had seemed like a much longer time ago, "I was experimenting with a potion,"

Daphne raised an eyebrow. "Experimenting with what?"

Harry grinned a bit. Daphne was the person who had actually taught him potions. and always had an interest in his experiments. "I was attempting to use a magical tree sap, one that seems to have several different properties, including one that may encourage condensing. I was trying to see if I could come up with a way to turn both blood replenishing potion and pain relieving potion doses into tablet form," Harry explained.

He knew the portrait wasn't really his wife, but it would respond the way his wife would when presented with a problem or information. He had long ago become comfortable conversing with it especially when it came to things like this.

The portrait of Daphne regarded him for a moment and then raised an eyebrow once more expectantly.

"I… used too much sap," Harry said sheepishly, running a hand through his hair. "The result was rather more than I expected. But the sap doesn't seem conducive to converting and condensing the potion."

Daphne looked thoughtful as she mused in response, "I'd… have to see the properties of the sap. But if the sap is magical, the wood itself should be too. You may want to consider using the wood in powdered form. It may act as a hardening agent.

Harry considered that as he tilted his head and seemed to get that far away look. "I'm not sure if that would condense the potions the way I want without completely changing their properties."

Tonks sighed audibly at the two and looked at the audience, "Don't mind them. They start talking potions or chemistry and I guarantee Harry won't notice if you set his hair on fire."

"That only happened one time… and I noticed eventually!" Harry replied scoffing a little bit.

"Not before you were nearly bald," Tonks retorted.

"You show up to _one_ event with a bad hair day, and she never lets me live it down," Harry said ruefully before he shook his head. "Sorry, not actually what we came for. Though we did need Daphne's help, not with potion advice though, we sorta need her knowledge of family history."

Daphne's expression of interest morphed from one of idle and musing curiosity to one of focused interest as her eyes flicked to the different people in the room. "Oh?"

Harry shrugged a bit, "Just need to see if you remember about the histories and origins of certain pieces of the family jewelry and heirlooms."

Daphne and Tonks both blinked and then leaned forward, as if they might jump forward out of their frames, with excited looks on their face.

"Are you _finally _getting married again?!" Tonks blurted out first.

"Huh?" Harry blinked and actually blushed and more than a little bit taken aback, "What? No!"

That clearly disappointed both portraits. Tonks merely let out a dejected "Oh." And her hair went from pink to dark and seemed to wilt a bit in the painting

"What in Merlin's name gave you _that_ idea?" Harry demanded.

Daphne's voice was quiet and calm as she followed up, "Harry, you may be capable of many many things. But you can't spend forever alone,"

"Yeah well, It's not like I had much of a choice, in the matter," Harry groused, his tone more resigned than truly depressed.

"Not to get all Dumbledorean on you but there is always a choice Harry be-" Tonks added only to be cut off.

"Yeah yeah. Right. Easy. Yeah. I know. I know. However I make it a point not to apply Dumbledorean philosophy to my personal life whenever possible," Harry responded dryly, wasn't getting upset, in fact he was rather amused by the conversation, a familiar one between the two of them, his grin turned lecherous and he winked at them, "Besides, easy can be fun."

Daphne and Tonks both sighed, and rolled their eyes, it was clear to all present that this was a familiar and ongoing argument that was going to lead them in circles. So they changed the topic.

"If you're not going to get yourself married again… Then what are you doing mucking about with the family heirlooms and jewelry? You hate dealing with jewelry, almost as much as the Goblins. Only without the risk of starting a war," she demanded returning to the topic at hand. "In fact, I seem to remember you claiming you'd rather be stuck in a room with Draco Malfoy discussing hair care tips than deal with any jewelry."

"This coming from the woman who refused to wear almost any jewelry at every function ever?" Harry shot back with a grin, making it clear that the argument hadn't dampened his mood for any considerable time.

"You know she speaks the truth. Don't try and distract everyone from your abhorrence to everything related to jewelry," Daphne spoke up as her eyes fixed on the girls who were watching the back and forth. "Did he tell you how he proposed to me?

"He took me to dinner and just offhandedly said that we should get married. I assumed he was joking and that no one in their right mind would propose like that, so I told him that proposals usually came with a ring. He shrugged and told me 'There's all sorts of rings in the family vault for you to chose from or you can get one made if you want.'" Daphne shook her head in exasperation.

"Hey! I did get better, being locked in a cupboard for my formative years hardly provided great templates for romance," Harry retorted.

There was no sympathy from either one of the portraits as they regarded him, it was Tonks that spoke, "Oh, Harry. You long ago passed the point where playing the whole '_I was an abused child locked in a cupboard for years_' card was effective. Besides, you're right. You did get better."

"We trained you well. It only took a decade or two," Daphne added shot back. "It was definitely a concerted effort."

"What do you mean _trained_? Wait… you know what? I don't want to know." He held up his hand to ward off responses to his own question. "Anyway putting my _complete_ lack of interest in totally useless, and functionless baubles aside… we're actually looking to make sure none of the gems she picked from the Black heirlooms have any particularly 'nefarious' history."

Tonks snorted, "Fat chance of that happening, my entire family was nefarious."

"Sure, if that's another way of pronouncing 'batshit insane'," Harry muttered.

Daphne ignored the back and forth as her expression was once more curious, "What do you need to know about family jewel history for?"

Harry shrugged, "We're going to strip away the metal and use the jewels to make lightsabers,"

"Light sabers?" Tonks asked playing with the unfamiliar word.

"It's pretty much what its name implies. A sword made out of light and plasma focused through a jewel. Ahsoka's was taken by a buncha crotchety old men. And I figured I'd give it a whirl," Harry glanced over at Ahsoka who was actually looking nervously up at the portraits as if they'd judge her for it.

Though Harry's pronouncement drew her attention as she looked at him in surprise, she couldn't help blurting out "You're going to make a lightsaber?"

"Yeah, It would be something you could actually teach me and I figured the experience would be interesting. Out of curiosity if nothing else," Harry smiled at her.

Ahsoka felt a brief surge of pride and a bit of excitement that she was actually going to teach Harry something. That wasn't really something she had the chance to do before, as a padawan she was always the learner and never the teacher. Yet Harry seemed to have no problem letting her teach him something new, nor did it seem to sting his pride to do so.

"Oh Harry, playing with swords again?" Tonks sighed dramatically. "Didn't your last experience with them teach you anything?"

"Hey, I got pretty good with them." Harry protested.

"Yeah, but the first time you picked one up was a bloody disaster," argued Tonks.

"Even your Mum agreed… that chandelier was ugly. It practically had it coming," Harry replied with a grin.

"And that antique mirror, and the window, and that poor owl's tail feathers,... and of course there was Kreacher," Tonks added.

"That blasted elf _definitely_ had it coming. I still maintained he jumped in front of the blade mid swing in an attempt to have his head on the wall," Harry stated indignantly.

"That was also roundabout the time of the incident when you stabbed Smith's foot," Daphne supplied helpfully.

"Meh. He always was a prat and he propositioned our daughter, even after she made it clear she wasn't interested in someone thirty years older than her and four times her body weight. Served him right," Harry replied sounding unconcerned

He had done some of his own research on lightsabers the night before, after leaving Ahsoka to sleep, mostly because he was curious to know what he could find out about building them on the holonet.

Aayla looked torn between amused and offended by the overall tone of the back and forth while Shaak Ti looked too engrossed in figuring out the portraits to be really paying attention to the conversation.

"Harry, you already have one shiny sword. You spent a couple decades learning to use it and a bunch of other pointy weapons so you didn't accidentally stab yourself. Why do you need another sharp object to play with?" Tonks asked with a roll of her eyes and an exasperated tone.

"I did not _play_ with them. I learned to use them. I figured if I was going to kill Dark Lords and other assorted bad guys that it might be useful to have a sword. By the time I realized it was pretty useless… well... then it was just fun and it's not like I had anything better to do," Harry groused in protest.

Harry suddenly grinned with a sidelong look at the Jedi. "Besides, this sword is different… this one glows in the dark!"

Daphne and Tonks exchanged a look, "Men," they said simultaneously with an eerily similar roll of their eyes.

"So you need my help picking out something suitable," Daphne sniffed after refocusing on Harry.

He rolled his eyes and chuckled, "Well Miss Tano actually requires help. I've already got mine picked out,"

Harry removed a gem from his pocket and tossed it in the air, catching it carelessly. The gem was dark red as it rested in his palm, but when it was in the air, it seemed to gleam with its own power. It was currently uncut and about the size of his fist. Ahsoka noticed that it did not seem to be any of the pieces that she had looked at last night, it was cut too rough and looked harsh and jagged.

Daphne blinked and narrowed her eyes, as they focused on the gem Harry was tossing in the air, "Is that..."

However she didn't even have time to finish the question before Tonks started to giggle helplessly.

"For a sword? Really?" Daphne's look however was somewhat less than amused. Harry just grinned wider at her reaction. Her eyes narrowed at his cheeky smile. "You're just curious as to what will happen,"

"Yup," Harry responded, popping the 'p' sound, as he nodded unrepentantly.

"According to you it's properties tend to be unique… what if it blows up in your hands?" Daphne asked with a long suffering sigh.

"Wouldn't be the first time something like that happened. Wouldn't even be the first time this week, truth be told," He shrugged and then changed the topic before any further discussion could happen and held up his hand.

"Ahsoka here has some requirements for the lightsaber. She doesn't want the gem to be responsible for any crazy deaths or anything, or being worn by any dark lords, ladies, or crazy minions and since we're chopping up the Black family heirlooms for it…"

"That's a reasonable concern," Daphne finished dryly.

Tonks however burst out into laughter. "Oh Harry, my ancestors are probably rolling over in their graves… and my Mum is probably torn between laughing her ass off while cheering you on and scolding you."

Daphne however remained focused on the matter at hand, her eyes on Ahsoka with more than a bit of judging in her gaze, as she raised an eyebrow expectantly once more.

Ahsoka blushed a bit wondering why she was feeling intimidated by the glaring woman who wasn't even a woman, just a portrait on the wall. However she kept those thoughts to herself as she looked at Harry sheepishly. "I.. actually don't have the gems we picked out last night I left them in the room after the whole… you know…"

"Before you blew up my room," Harry supplied helpfully.

"Yeah. That. I didn't think to pick up the ones I-" She was cut off as Dobby appeared.

"These be the ones Miss Soaky had picked out," Dobby supplied helpfully and dropped several items of jewelry in her hands before disappearing with a pop.

Ahsoka blinked several times looking down at the items in her hand which were indeed ones she had set aside the evening before she looked up at Harry.

He shrugged looking unsurprised, "Don't worry, you'll get used to him knowing things you want a day before you actually ask for it. Are those the ones you picked out?"

Ahsoka nodded and Harry gestured for her to set them on the desk in front of the portrait, which she did, laying out five pieces in all.

Daphne's portrait almost immediately pointed to a bracelet with several gems on it. "You definitely want to avoid that one. Goblins could never find curses on it, but it was deemed incredibly bad luck. People who wore it always seemed to experience bouts of poor decision making and numerous unfortunate debacles."

"I recognize that one. It isn't _really_ bad luck. She's just saying that because that was a favorite piece her sister had," Harry chuckled, "It never brought bad luck to anyone else that I know of."

"I would say being married to Draco was enough of a precedent." Daphne sniffed imperiously.

Harry glanced at it and then shook his head. "Yeah, I think we can avoid that,"

Daphne winced slightly. "That necklace, with the topaz gems in it?" She pointed toward the piece Ahsoka had put in the middle. It contained one large dark orange gem and two slightly smaller ones in a gaudy necklace piece that was likely designed to cover most of one's chest and collarbone.

"If you're really concerned about history… I would not chose that one," Daphne said dryly.

Harry raised his eyebrow in curiosity. "I don't think it was cursed, Dobby and I both checked…"

"No… but it was Walburga Black's favorite piece of jewelry. She even requested to be buried in it," she said dryly. "However, Sirius was Head of House by the point she died. He never approved it so she couldn't be buried in it. I am not certain whether his written request that the goblins exhume her body, perform an exorcism, douse the bones in holy water, burn them to ash, and then flush the ashes down the toilet of a muggle train station."

Ahsoka turned her questioning attention from Daphne to Harry who was scratching his cheek thoughtfully, before commenting "Yeah, Walburga Black was all sorts of crazy. One of the meanest most vindictive people you could ever have the misfortune to meet. And I only had the… 'pleasure' of meeting her portrait."

"On the other hand, just because she wore it doesn't mean it was imbued with thoughts of crazy or something," Harry grinned. "I also can't think of anyone more deserving of an unhappy afterlife, especially if you were to use that to fight the forces of evil"

"She would be screeching in outrage!" Tonks nodded vigorously between fits of giggles.

"That piece would be ideal to destroy, it was always gaudy and without taste, much like much of the family, and I never cared for the color scheme either," Daphne stated.

Harry nodded, "Yeah I know, but we have to be a bit careful of colors and such. I still haven't quite broken Ahsoka of all the silliness she was indoctrinated with."

"Oh?" Daphne asked curiously.

Harry shrugged. "Where she comes from, most of the good guys used one or two colors of lightsaber, while the bad guys apparently all use another."

"Ah… so basically the same thing as Hogwarts houses. Green and silver are evil. Because all Slytherins are evil snakes?" Daphne said with some distaste.

"Yup, and all Gryffindors are amazingly brave and utterly selfless heroes. Pretty much the same thing here. And it's a message propagated by a group of people _so_ Gryffindor they even make me cringe," Harry offered.

"That's quite the achievement." Tonks murmured in amusement.

"Lovely. A Dumbledorian era all over again," Daphne opined with a larger grimace.

"Only this time it's on a galactic scale!" Harry nodded brightly, his expression obviously exaggerated. He paused a moment and then pouted a little bit. "Though the colors are reversed. Apparently red means 'evil bad guy' and blue or green means 'totally heroic and always right hero type'."

"Serves you right. Now it's your turn for your Gryffindor colors to be all evil!" Daphne responded with a small smile that bordered upon a sneer.

"Speaking of indoctrination that hasn't broken," Tonks rolled her eyes at the two of them.

"There is more to it than a simple color," interjected Shaak Ti finally. She had yet to figure out what was going on with the portraits though she could sense Force presence in them. Daphne and Tonks eyes were both drawn to her as she continued. "Red is the color of the blade that nearly all synthetic crystals will produce when the easiest possible method of producing a crystal is used."

"It represents everything that is wrong with the utilization of the Dark side of the Force," Aayla added, finally being drawn into the conversation, having just been observing it mostly in amusement as she noticed how Harry seemed comfortable interacting with the portraits of his dead wives.

"That's what they call Magic," Harry clarified with a helpful eyeroll to Daphne and Tonks. "The Force."

Shaak Ti gave him a half-hearted glare for the interruption, and continued. "By using a red colored blade, that person is essentially announcing to all present that they embody everything which is the opposite of the Order."

"That they have no patience to search for a crystal themselves. That they chose the quick and easy path to power, rather than undergo the journey properly, which anyone who knows about such things realizes _that_ is the most important part,"

Aayla spoke up to clarify, "Normally a Jedi will journey to one or two planets, which the Order has managed to keep the locations of somewhat secret. The journey, once there, is quite arduous, and that's before they even get to the underground caverns that house the crystals."

"Then, a Jedi must attune themselves with the Force in order to 'find' a crystal that's suitable. It's a journey, and a test at the same time. To simply follow a recipe like a cookbook, and skip all that is something no true Force user with the discipline necessary would do," Shaak Ti finished fixing Harry with a stare.

"Well good thing I'm not a Force user then. I'm a magic user," Harry said, unconcerned. He knew he could talk about the decades of work and effort that went into creating his stone. But was actually more interested in seeing the creation of a lightsaber. "And Ahsoka's apparently done her journey once already. No need to reinvent the wheel."

A lot of things he had seen on the holonet the evening before said that even schematics out there only worked half the time, and even the successes were rarely truly successful, having a history of failing. The Jedi's must have kept some secret about their creation

Harry didn't really need a lightsaber, but it was a sword… and it was shiny. "I'm just curious how your little toy actually works mechanically."

Aayla and Shaak Ti shared an indrawn breath at this, both of their expressions closing off.

Shaak Ti spoke first her tone flat. "A lightsaber is a responsibility and a controlled and powerful weapon. It can be incredibly dangerous to its wielder and all those near the wielder whether or not the user is skilled or not. It is the weapon of a Jedi, and one of the most recognizable objects in the _galaxy,"_

"It is _not_ a toy, Harry," Aayla's voice summed up a little more harshly than she intended.

"Seems to me the use is rather limited, but whatever you say, Blue," Harry shrugged apathetically, not particularly awed or intimidated by either of their tones.

Ahsoka was quiet as she listened to the discussion. She could easily see the difference in opinions between the two Jedi Masters and Harry. Her attention was mostly on the pieces that she left on the desk. One of the portraits picked up on her attention.

Daphne was looking thoughtful. "Honestly, the necklace laying there is probably by far the best bet," She pointed at the fourth piece lying on the table, it was not as large as the previous one that Walburga favored, and it was nowhere near as gaudy. It contained four gems of decent size that lay in delicate and finely wrought white gold chain. The piece had a look of elegance and class rather than overwhelming ostentation.

"That particular piece was a gift from Charlus Potter to Dorea Black while they were courting," Daphne smiled and inclined her head, "To the best of my knowledge there is nothing that pertains poorly to that particular piece. It also came from Harry's family originally and was given to the Black family during the courtship."

Ahsoka glanced up at the portrait and down at the necklace she indicated. She reached out to run her fingers over the necklace slowly, reaching out her senses once more toward the stones. She could almost feel the disapproving gazes that fell upon her, or at least one of them, knowing Shaak Ti in particular was incensed by Harry's previous comment and attitude.

For her part, Ahsoka could see both sides, having been raised and knowing how important and how much emphasis was placed on the step to getting a lightsaber during the Jedi training process. For him to dismiss the weapon so readily was a bit jarring, but at the same time, Harry obviously did things differently. He also seemed to have no objection to her carrying one.

However, she had thrown herself into this, and wasn't going to start siding against Harry now.

Especially not when she agreed with him.

"My lightsaber has always been green. But… that was the old me. I think I should go for something different," she said as her fingers brushed over the yellow gems that were so pale they were nearly clear.

Harry grinned and rubbed his hands together, "Okay, let's get started!"

Ahsoka chuckled, "Well this is just one piece needed to make the lightsaber. The rest of the pieces are easier, but I hadn't gathered them all yet, and I kind of doubt I'm going to find material for a grip or a power source just laying around."

Harry gave a mock hurt look. "Please, you would have thought I was unprepared!"

He summoned a pouch out of his pocket into his hand, and upended it. Out of the pocket came a whole pile of stuff that overflowed the desk and tumbled onto the floor with clanking pieces. Metal tubing of various lengths and thicknesses, different wires and a whole lot of miniature power sources

Ahsoka looked up at him questioningly.

Harry shrugged, "You were concerned enough about building one last night, so I went looking for parts after you went to sleep. The pieces required were on the information I got from the holonet, and if we need more than this we can always raid Dobby's spare parts stash here on the ship. I'd be very surprised if we couldn't find what we were looking for there if something's missing."

"It didn't say what else was needed besides the pieces," Harry continued, his tone apologetic, "and the schematics I downloaded from the holonet said they weren't always successful at working so I don't know how helpful they were going to be."

Ahsoka had raised her eyebrows for entirely other reasons. "You went looking for pieces while I was asleep?. When exactly did _you_ sleep?"

Harry shrugged, "I sleep when I need to."

"He sleeps when he's about to fall over unconscious and only just then. I'm guessing the only reason he's eating and hasn't shriveled up to an emaciated zombie is because Dobby insists on feeding him," Tonks scoffed.

Harry actually looked somewhat betrayed by the statement, and responded befitting someone of his age and experience. He stuck out his tongue and blew a raspberry at the portrait of his wife.

He turned his attention back to Ahsoka "Where do we start?"

oOooOoOOoOooOo

Shaak Ti sat in the pilot's chair as she initialized the surprisingly advanced Holocom station Harry had in his ship. Aayla was sitting next to her in the copilot's seat. She was staring out at the star lines and seemed lost in thought. Shaak Ti thought about asking her what she was thinking but given her level of concentration, she decided best to leave her alone.

They both had left the hold where Ahsoka was constructing a pair of lightsabers for herself, while simultaneously teaching Harry to do the same. They had watched for several hours while the two fussed with gems and then began putting the sabers together. While Shaak TI was impressed at Harry's focus as he listened to Ahsoka, she was rather irked with the blasé way Harry seemed to be treating the chosen weapons of the Order and knew Aayla felt the same.

But as Shaak Ti promised she was trying not to rush into any snap judgments. Though she was relatively certain the importance of the lightsabers was not being significantly impressed upon Harry, as Ahsoka seemed to be more amused by Harry's comments than offended.

Aayla's thoughts mirrored her companion's to an extent. A part of her was worried about Ahsoka instructing Harry, instruction from half trained padawans or Jedi in the past had gone very poorly. Then again, she doubted anything Ahsoka was going to do would actually cause the same outcomes as had historically happened in the history of the Jedi Council..

Shaak Ti had asked Harry if it was okay to use his comm system to contact the Jedi Council, and all she had gotten was a disinterested wave. Obviously he was unconcerned that they planned to report in. She had taken her leave from the hold and gone back to the cockpit to reach out to the Jedi Temple, Aayla had followed her a few moments later.

It had taken rather longer to connect than normal though she was uncertain as to why. However, once she established a connection she realized that it would be several minutes before it started. Several other Masters were already present or, like herself and Aayla, present in holographic form. She could hear the murmur of rather animated conversations between different masters. Shaak Ti greeted several of the masters politely.

Rather than take time to engage in the conversations or determine their nature, Aayla used the minutes to gather her thoughts as she knew that she had rather dramatic and earthshaking news to present and wanted to make sure she laid it out in the clearest manner possible. It didn't help that she was unable to clear her senses as she normally did, the very Force around her still seemed to be active and... bubbling as if it boiled in the area around Harry. There was nothing nefarious about it that she could sense, but Aayla had never felt anything like it before so it was an entirely new experience. Occasionally, she even felt _invigorated_ by it. As if taking a free breath.

Aayla's attention was drawn in the holographic display as Master Yoda walked into the room slowly, aided by his gymer stick and followed by Master Windu. Master Windu took his seat and everyone waited the time it took Yoda to make it to his seat and get settled as well.

Yoda rapped his stick on the side of his chair to get the attention of the council. He had to do it several time to get everyone's attention given how intense some of the whispered conversations seemed to be.

Aayla noted that several of the Master's were remoting in from other worlds. It was a more full council meeting than most, then she did a double take; it was not a mix of Council members and those who had business or some function of the war they were particularly engaged in as a topic of discussion. All twelve Masters officially on the Council were there either in person or remotely. The five permanent members, who accepted a lifetime commitment to the council, the four long term members, who served until they chose to step down and the three limited-term members who sat on the council for specific terms. Shaak Ti was one of the latter category.

This was unexpected and had Aayla considering the reasons in the back of her head, while Shaak Ti seemed to take it in stride.

Once he had everyone's attention the little being spoke. "Much we have to discuss. Understand I do everyone's chief concern."

"Felt, we all did the disturbance in the Force?" The little being asked as he looked around one by one to the different Masters for their assent.

Aayla's eyes widened at that and she exchanged a shocked look with Shaak Ti who glanced her way, but managed a perfunctory nod when he looked at her before he continued around the circle. She had no question as to what he was referring to, but she hadn't grasped the idea that Harry's actions had not just reverberated around the system, but the entire _galaxy._

"We didn't just feel it! Whatever it was nearly incapacitated every unit, battalion and battlegroup we have deployed as the Jedi in command of them often fell unconscious while on duty! Sometimes it even happened mid-battle. Do we even have numbers yet on our casualties due to this… this... Force Storm?" demanded Master Tsui Choi, a non-Council member who was one of the numerous Masters brought into the meeting.

A grunt of annoyance was heard from Mace Windu, "We are still ascertaining the final count of casualties. Some of our members are with troops behind enemy lines and are subject to jamming. We have no idea how they fared in those situations."

"And the rest?" asked Master Plo Kloon, obviously quite keen to know the number they _did_ know that they lost.

Windu hesitated a moment, then began to speak. "All told our losses were manageable. We lost two light cruisers and had to abandon a Venator-class destroyer that had likely been salvageable if not for the abrupt turn in fighting. Outside of the losses incurred there, we lost upwards of 10 thousand clone troops including several entire battalions in various skirmishes. The droid armies took advantage of the confusion in the chain of command and inflicted severe damage in several areas to our ground troops, with at least two worlds we may have to pull back from..."

"What of the Jedi casualties?" Master Ki-Adi-Mundi demanded impatiently.

Aayla found herself unconsciously nodding slightly in agreement, her own impatience there as well, she wanted to know about the Jedi casualties, those were most important in her mind. The fact that they had to abandon two worlds at least temporarily was problematic, but it was possible they could be regained in the near future. The destruction of the fleet ships were worrying, though replacements were on the line and being pumped out as fast as possible. The loss of clones was in a similar vein, it would take two or three months to replace the clones.

Aayla froze as that thought lingered in her mind. She wouldn't have hesitated on it at all, but the discussion with Harry from the previous night regarding the use of clones was brought back to her mind by the mere mention of them.

When did she become so callous to that loss of life? When did she start seeing them as unimportant? She considered Bly a very good friend, and yet she found herself casually dismissing the loss of thousands of clones just like him that she had never met.

She prided herself in her compassion for others, despite the reputation and admonishments it often gained her from the Council for getting 'too involved.' To so casually dismiss their sacrifice, even in the depths of her own thoughts was anathema to her. Aayla knew she would feel disgust if anyone mentioned thinking that way, so why was she? A glance over at Shaak Ti showed that the other woman was focused on the conversation at hand and didn't seem to be plagued by the same thoughts.

And as she consciously thought about it she knew it wasn't like it was the first time. She had thought that way for awhile… could remember feeling that way in briefings and when she plotted out strategy..

For a moment she wondered if she was overreacting, and responding to the hells of war by acting as almost all Generals do, seeing numbers and not people in their troops. Her conscience seemed to want to accept that reasoning and move on. It was easier and less troubling.

She put her fingers to her head and closed her eyes. Something was _**very**_ wrong.

Aayla was so lost in her thoughts, that she missed several comments before she focused once more on the conversation.

"-Jedi because of this incident. Save for a single incident, which Master Swan will report on, those Masters and Knights who were fighting at the time, were all pulled back by their troops when they recognized something was wrong." Mace Windu was saying.

He leaned back heavily in his chair. "No, the losses we incurred were all Padawans well away from the front. All had Masters who were incapacitated, leading to confusion amongst their troops, and in each case, the enemy managed to recognize a break in the flow of battle and took advantage of it. The one padawan killed in the line of duty, hadn't seen combat yet, and was performing rear guard duties when their positions were suddenly overrun."

Silence met this. When no one moved to reply, Yoda spoke up. "Master Redath-Gom your report, would you give."

Master Que-Mars Redath-Gom was a male Weequay, a humanoid species that appeared incredibly wrinkly to human eyes. However their skin was a tough hide that provided a natural resistance to blaster fire. Their race was ideal bounty hunters and bodyguards the galaxy over. Aayla knew that was only part of the reason that the Jedi who had recently attained Master status was known for surviving rough scrapes.

He was there via holocom, so his image grew larger in proportion to the others in the holocom when the focus turned to him. Aayla examined him and saw that he had clearly been in a battle. and had been injured significantly judging by the sling his arm was in and the burn on his cheek.

He spoke up, his clipped accent gathering people's attention. "Yesterday, while I was here picking up reinforcements, the Separatists launched an assault on Rothana, specifically Rothana Heavy Engineering and the largest of their production facilities."

Aayla stiffened and glanced at Shaak Ti who had a similar expression on her face, an expression that was mirrored around the room. Grievous was one of the Jedi's most implacable foes, and had been responsible for at least a dozen Jedi deaths, that they knew of.

"General Grievous infiltrated the facility, which was partially underground, while his flagship exchanged fire with the planetary defense force," Master Redath-Gom continued, giving his report in firm quick tones. "Myself, Master Swan and Master Saxton along with Jedi Knights Thasla and Parasia confronted him at the facility."

"He managed to critically injure Master Swan during the fight and she was forced to withdraw. Then in mid-battle, that Force storm hit, and the three of us were staggered. Knight Thasia was cut down almost immediately as it seemed to affect him most, Master Saxton fell a few moments later." Master Redath-Gom shook his head before continuing, his single braid shifting in the air as he did, "Myself and Knight Parasia were left in no shape to fight and vulnerable, however apparently the explosives they planted were on timers, as they started to go off. Grievous didn't seem to have time to get to me due to burning metal that fell between us. When he saw there was no easy way through, he didn't wait around to try, he returned to his command ship and fled."

The Weequay master shook his head "I managed to regain my senses enough to get myself and Knight Parasia to safety as she had caught part of an explosive blast and suffered burns on one of her legs."

"What is the status of Master Swan?" inquired Obi-Wan with concern in his tone.

"Master Swan is currently in a Bacta tank and will probably need at least another twelve hours," Master Redath-Gom responded with a slight bow of his head.

"Sorry are we to hear about the deaths of Master Saxton and Knight Thasla," Master Yoda said solemnly.

"Do we know what caused this yet?" Master Plo Koon asked quietly.

"It obviously didn't just happen!" Anakin Skywalker spoke up from a seat on the Council. "And it's still being felt. The Force around us is different. We're not just feelings ripples from a disturbance, the Force itself feels fundamentally changed! "

Aayla frowned a little bit as she looked at his image. His presence was not uncommon at the meetings, but he was sitting in the chair of a Master on the council. She wondered when he had gotten both promotions. Not that he didn't deserve it in her mind, given his service and actions, though she still had concerns about his ability to let go.

"Is this the work of the hidden Sith Lord?" inquired Master Tiin quietly.

Aayla's eyes narrowed briefly at the Jedi Master who she had bickered with at the last meeting, and whom Yoda had forced to leave.

"No, caused by the Dark Lord of the Sith this was not," Yoda said quietly. "Sensed his presence nearby, I did. Here on Coruscant he was. In Senate building he was."

"Very powerful is this Dark Lord. Sensed that, even in the brief moment felt him I did." Yoda looked around slowly, "However just as surprised and caught off guard by events was he. Caused this he did not."

"Uncertain are we," summed up Yoda honestly, "Never felt anything like this we have."

"Master, I believe we have the explanation for what happened," Shaak Ti spoke up.

That certainly got the attention of everyone there. Yoda seemed to settle down further into his chair and regarded Shaak Ti with curious eyes.

"Please, Master Ti. Share with us what you know," Mace Windu added after a few moments pause.

Shaak Ti glanced over at Aayla briefly, but Aayla shook her head slightly. She wasn't sure what she could or couldn't say to the Order given the oath Harry had insisted on. However Shaak Ti hadn't given any oath and so she was free to speak as much as she wanted.

"We know exactly what… or rather who caused it." Shaak Ti repeated, and rather than waiting for the inevitable question, she continued, "In fact, the origin of the event occurred not ten feet in front of us on Kashyyyk. The disturbance in the Force was caused by the Bounty Hunter you had Aayla make contact with, and that I was sent to offer medical treatment to."

There was the briefest moment of silence as the attending Jedi digested this information. None dared speak, as random outbursts had been cracked down upon in light of some of the commentary issued during the Jedi's first exposure to Harry. All turned to Yoda, to see what the ancient leader of their order had to say in reaction to the news that had been so abruptly delivered.

"Hmmm," Yoda grumbled in a contemplative manner as he stared at the floor, idly drawing invisible lines on the floor with his Gymer stick. With a creased forehead, he turned to Shaak Ti and gestured, "Details you can offer?"

Shaak Ti nodded in acknowledgement and began the tale of what Aayla and company had witnessed on Kashyyyk. Everything was described in detail. From her arrival on Kashyyyk, to her descending to the ground level, to Harry's house. She didn't give specifics on Ahsoka's training after a glance at Aayla but she did describe Harry was connected with the some of the Wookiees on Kashyyyk itself. to the way the description of the manner in which he single-handedly halted an invasion force.

"He called down fire from the sky?" Mace Windu asked, leaning forward intently.

Shaak Ti tilted her head to regard him, surprised slightly by the intensity in his voice, "Yes, that's just one of the things I've seen him do that I would have said were impossible."

Master Windu leaned back and seemed to contemplate this.

"Master Secura, anything to add to Master Ti's account you have?" Yoda asked.

Aayla jolted slightly, she had still been puzzling over her own reactions and the way her mind had seemed to be so callous, that she had only half been paying attention to what was being said. She shook her head a little bit and was about to reply that she really didn't have anything but she was cut off.

The door to the Council room opened with a woosh and a female with short hair and an odd tattoo on her forehead rushed in, looking a little bit frantic. "Masters… a youngling… it's impossible… you have to see!"

Mace's voice was the first to respond, to the sudden intrusion, "Master Fy-Tor-Ana what is it? Is one of the children injured?"

Aayla and Shaak Ti glanced at each other. They were both passingly familiar with the Jedi Master. She had trained both of them and many many more when they were younglings and knew she had trained many older masters as well. However the woman never seemed to age. She was somewhat of an oddity among the Jedi in that she trained the younglings but never took a padawan for herself.

Nor did she ever spend much time or seem to befriend any of the other masters. Though she and Anakin Skywalker seemed to get on well together.

Unbeknownst to the two masters in the ship, their thoughts and opinions were shared by a majority of the council. They had never seen her so frantic before, indeed she was usually unflappable.

That brought up Fy-Tor-Ana short, and she shook her head, "No Master, I… he… did something impossible!"

"What did he do?" asked Obi-Wan quietly. He too remembered being put through the Master's infamous obstacle course as no more than a youngling.

"We were working on teaching the basics of Force jumping and… he… he... " Master Fy-Tor Ana shook her head slightly again, "It would be better to just show you. Pull up the video for about 10 minutes ago in training room 16."

Obi-Wan keyed some information into a datapad, and a three dimensional video appeared in the middle of the room. The now far more calm Jedi Master took a few steps back to make sure everyone had a clear view.

Shaak Ti touched a few buttons on the console and brought the video into closer view for both herself and Aayla who was watching with equal interest.

Aayla recognized the room as the one they usually used to teach force jumping to younglings. It had a series of platforms in the room of varying heights, and was padded with foam so falls and tumbles were unlikely to hurt.

They watched quietly as the video clearly showed Master Fy-Tor-Ana working with a group of four younglings, Aayla clearly remembered her first attempts in that room as well.

She watched as all four younglings whose age she guessed between five and seven, took turns attempting to jump onto a platform that was nearly ten meters in the air and only managing to get a few feet in the air, in purely natural jumps on several attempts. Hardly surprising. Few managed to get it in their first few attempts. It was quite a bustle when Anakin Skywalker had leapt successfully on his first attempt.

Then she watched as one of the younglings got a familiar look of frustration on his face. She could almost hear the lecture that was about to come after he tried and failed once more. Master Fy-Tor-Ana would remonstrate him about letting frustration get the better of you not being helpful.

Only this time the Rodian youngling leapt up and disappeared.

There was a quick intake of breath as he reappeared nearly two meters above the platform. It was clearly not planned because the youngling immediately let out a cry of shock as he fell to the platform beneath him, stumbled and was unable to keep his feet so he tumbled right over the edge to the ground below.

Master Fy-Tor-Ana was too stunned to do anything as the youngling hit the ground with a soft thump. However given that the entire room was padded with softening foam on it, the landing wasn't harmful and the youngling would only suffer a bruise or two.

"How did he do that?" demanded Anakin Skywalker as the recording froze.

Master Windu's voice cut across the growing murmurs of incredulity. "Ancient Sith were known to have the capability to teleport. But I'll banish the first person who even dreams of suggesting a youngling somehow managed to recreate a lost Sith technique on their own while attempting a supervised Force Jump session within our very own Temple."

Silence met this proclamation, as there were, no doubt, a few who were about to suggest this very thing. In lieu of commenting, many returned their eyes to the screen and watched the unbelievable event repeat itself.

"So… how explain this do we?" asked Master Yoda, who's eyes had not yet left the replay of the Youngling's unexpected ability.

"I've seen such things before," stated Shaak Ti after a visibly deep breath.

Aayla glanced at her friend, unsure how she felt about Master Ti outing Harry's abilities like this. But, if a Youngling were able to suddenly do much of the same as Harry, then the Council would likely need as much information as it could get.

"Let me guess," Anakin asked in a dry tone devoid of any humor, "Once again, our Bounty Hunter?"

Shaak Ti merely nodded, "Harry has repeatedly teleported, both by himself and with others in tow."

"That's how he made it to his ship that was docked thousands of kilometers away when he was originally here on Coruscant!" exclaimed Obi-Wan as he quickly put pieces of information together.

"This man, time and time again, displays the potential to be an incredibly dangerous individual," commented Mace Windu.

Anakin, his thoughts always a hair-trigger from Ahsoka, was quick to grasp on to this line of thought, "So what will we do? I can't let my Padawan stay around such an individual unsuper-"

But he was cut off by Aayla, who felt that the first hand information they had about Harry, much of which could alleviate some of the suspicions about it, were being ignored, "She is not unsupervised. She has myself _and_ Master Ti present in case our former member encounters something she cannot handle, or to offer advice in case she has questions on how someone who was still a member of our Order might handle things."

"Because if you've all somehow forgotten," Shaak Ti added at this point. "Ahsoka Tano is no longer a member of this Order. By the grace of the Whills, this Order still has two members in close contact with her and someone who is apparently making massive waves on a galactic level. Because I will also remind everyone that he is someone we have no official oversight or legal authority over."

That seemed to silence everyone there. Whether by the enormity of the statement or the reality of it.

"I would like to know more details about the assault force on Kashyyyk. Give us a better idea of the scale we are talking about and what he might have done. The Separatists obviously suffered a massive defeat there. We need to figure out just how big it was," Obi Wan mused as he stroked his fingers through his beard, "Perhaps hope the Wookiees may have visual recordings of the event. That may give all of us a better idea of what we're dealing with."

"As I am on Harry's ship at the moment, I will ask if I can share the sensor data from the battle in space that his ship may have picked up," Shaak Ti offered after a glance at Aayla who shrugged.

Harry hadn't been concerned when she and Ahsoka were going through the computer, but that was just a file search, this was sharing sensor data and giving it someone else.

Shaak Ti's statement was met by murmurs around the chamber, and it was Master Tiin that spoke up. "If he is letting you use the holocom you can simply send us the information now."

"Not without permission, this is his ship and I am here at his sufferance. I would prefer not to test his welcome with something that could be arranged simply by asking permission," Shaak Ti responded dryly.

"That would be appreciated, but at this point, untangling the mystery this man presents has clearly become a priority for us," Mace Windu interjected, cutting off a response from Master Tiin, "If he is unwilling to share details, the best source of any information might be the Wookiees themselves. They might be able to share more details, not just regarding the battle, but perhaps tell more of their history with him. "

"If the Wookiees were attacked, they are likely to be very unhappy," Anakin offered in what was probably the understatement of the year, "I don't know how willing to share they might be at the moment. I do know one thing though. I'd hate to be anyone affiliated with the Separatists right now. I would say that if they managed to get their claws on any of the people responsible, they would be lucky if the Wookiees just tore their arms from their sockets."

"And if they were unlucky?" Master Adi Gallia asked, showing that she had yet to spend any significant amount of time in close contact with the tall furry sapients during her career as a Jedi.

"Then the Wookiees would interrogate them… extensively first," Anakin said without much humor. "Few people come out of that in one piece… some not at all."

"I would say their methods of interrogation are uncivilized but effective," muttered Obi-Wan as he covered his eyes..

"Interrogation methods aside," interrupted Mace, "the Wookiees are a known quantity that apparently has considerable contact with this individual in the past. We may learn far more about him from his interactions with them then we have from his deliberately revealed information on the Bounty Hunter's application or within conversations with Masters Secura and Ti.

Yoda leaned with a nod at this, "Take time to make diplomatic inquiry it will. Dismissed for now you all are. Meet again we will in four standard hours."

With a wave of his hand, the projection ended, leaving Shaak Ti and Aayla alone in the cockpit of Harry's ship. Shaak Ti turned her full attention to Aayla who was still staring out at the stars, "You barely spoke at all during that. What troubles you?"

Aayla's eyes flicked to Shaak Ti as she chewed her bottom lip before she came to a decision, "I need to talk to Harry. Something doesn't feel right."

oOooOoOOoOooOo

Harry and Ahsoka had spent several hours together putting together lightsabers, thought a great portion of that had been taken up by Harry making comments about societies that chose phallic-like weapons for themselves.

Aayla and Shaak Ti returned from the Council meeting in the middle of another discussion about that very subject, causing both to don a disapproving look at the insinuations Harry was making. As time moved past, even a forcibly stoic Shaak Ti found herself almost smiling at some of the banter, by which point Ahsoka was on the floor laughing while Aayla genuinely smiled despite herself.

Despite the humor expressed during the lightsaber build, both active Jedi felt that the use of the readily available crystals somehow cheapened the experience of making a lightsaber, and while they hadn't spoken thus aloud, both Harry and Ahsoka were well aware of their opinions.

Neither cared in the least.

Harry was attentive to Ahsoka who seemed a bit timid about instructing on the creation of lightsabers. Not on the actual imparting of knowledge, as civilians had been taking apart random lightsabers that had been found for millennia and dissecting how they were made, almost always failing miserably when it came to recreating the weapons themselves.

Instead, Ahsoka's hesitance and lack of confidence stemmed directly from the fact that she was the one on the teaching side for once. Harry was an extremely attentive listener and never once dropped the focused and serious manner in which he memorized every tiny nuance of what she did.

The fact that this academic Harry was so far from the norm actually made her more nervous than it would have with the normal teasing, blatant flirting, or lewd comments that normally flowed out from him without hesitation. The teasing existed, sure. But for now, it was directed solely at Shaak Ti or Aayla whenever they wandered near and the itch to say something offensive finally became too much and directed itself towards the older women.

Eventually though, the lack of distractions allowed her to focus more explaining the steps they would need to take to create her own lightsaber as well as instruct Harry on how to create his. The lesson became less of the clinical technical explanations behind the weapons function and more about the spiritual journey that the Jedi felt the weapon's creation represented.

The long explanation delving into the spiritual side of lightsabers actually was necessary, as it took that long to prepare all of the various components necessary for their future weapons. Casing, power regulators, plasma conduits. Hundreds of specifically shaped and molded pieces that would fit together just right to create a cylindrical weapon that utilized upwards of 95% of the free space inside of it. It was perfection personified, and something that only someone with the ability to telekinetically control the various components could ever hope to assemble properly.

Everything had ultimately been easy to procure, inspect, and declare ready for assembly. Everything but one part.

The focusing gems.

The gems were the hard part all around. Harry had to free the three crystals from the necklace, Ahsoka had chosen, destroying any enchantments along the way so that there would be no chance of damaging the crystal if the magic resonance decided it didn't want to be parted with the piece of crystal. As they were goblin-made it took a bit of doing to get them out without damaging them. The entire process was quite time-consuming, and became an impromptu lesson on curse-breaking as Harry explained every step he needed to take, even going through unneeded steps that would've been more useful if the object had more nefarious purposes.

Harry's gem took almost as much effort, but from an entirely different perspective. Taking the large fist-sized gem and cutting it down to three smaller gems took far more effort than anyone had anticipated.

The loss of the stone itself, which even uncut, likely could have fetched millions of credits seemed unfathomable to all three Jedi. All three had sworn themselves to a life of few possessions, but even they understood just how recklessly destructive Harry was being with what they assumed was a goldmine in front of them.

The fact that it literally _was_ a goldmine was something Harry didn't reveal to any of them just yet.

When asked why he felt the need to cut that specific stone, one that was obviously well known to both of his wives' portraits, he responded cryptically, "There are plenty more where that came from."

As for Harry, he tried to be as attentive as possible while his 'apprentice' taught him something a Jedi pre-teen learned while at their temple. It still surprised him to no end how quickly the Jedi picked up highly technical explanations and extremely difficult and abstract concepts to help them in their duties.

With all the components finally ready, it actually took less than fifteen minutes for the two to completely assemble their lightsabers. Once they closed up the lightsabers Harry was ready to fire his up immediately, but he was stopped by Ahsoka when she told him the final step was to let the force flow throw the lightsaber; helping make it work as one flowing piece of equipment rather than just parts. Ultimately, the action would fix all the small minute flaws, making it a capable weapon.

Harry's eyes narrowed at that description but he sat back and let her demonstrate the process for him.

Ahsoka flushed slightly, feeling his gaze on her and attempted to focus. She closed her eyes, and as she did so, the lightsaber on the desk in front of her lifted off the desk and hovered in front of her.

Shaak Ti and Aayla who by now had both returned from the cockpit, remained in the background during the final steps of the assembly process. They watched as Ahsoka sat there and allowed the Force to turn and twist the lightsaber. Of course even now they could feel the difference in the Force around them, it didn't just softly fill the air, it seemed to wash over them. similar to the way it did when Harry was using his magic. .

However their attention was pulled away from Ahsoka as she concentrated on the lightsaber in front of her, when Harry's eyes began to glow as he watched her intently. He said nothing as the lightsaber gently turned and spun in the air and seemed to glow with energy even to the naked eye before it slowly set back down on the desk.

Ahsoka opened her eyes with a pleased grin to look first at her finished lightsaber. Working with Anakin she naturally had to rebuild her lightsaber more than once. Of course it wasn't something he could scold her on often, since even Skyguy admitted he tended to go through them pretty quickly.

She reached out and picked up the first of the two lightsabers she was constructing and moved her hands over it slowly before turning to look at Harry. His reaction was definitely not one any of them were expecting.

"Are you freaking kidding me?" Harry's voice demanded in a combination of amusement and horror as he stared between Ahsoka and her newly created, though yet to be ignited lightsaber.

Ahsoka looked at him with confusion. "What is it?" Her voice was puzzled he sounded as much shocked as he was amused.

Harry gestured at the lightsaber she had in her hands, "All that spiritual mumbo jumbo, all of that connection...and that whole… 'making it work better and fixing minute flaws' and such… that's almost… a _reparo_ charm."

Harry shook his head, "No, not _almost_, it was _exactly_ a repair charm in super slow motion."

"A what?" She asked blankly, it wasn't one of the things they had gone over before.

Harry tilted his head to look at her and gently reminded her, "Does exactly what it sounds like…" He said leadingly.

"A repair charm… repairs things," Ahsoka offered feeling a little bit silly.

Harry chuckled and flicked his wand into his hand and gestured at the single lightsaber that he had been working on with her for the past few hours.

There was a brief surge of magic and a few clicks from the lightsaber he had constructed under her guidance. But the surge lasted less than a second and was obviously much shorter than Ahsoka's touch of several minutes. "That." he said shortly.

Ahsoka frowned and didn't know what to say looking at the lightsaber she had in her hand, Harry's lightsaber, and the second lightsaber she had constructed for herself but had yet to use the Force to finish yet.

She looked between Harry and the lightsaber still sitting there several times. Harry didn't seem to be giving her direction one way or the other and just watched her curiously. She looked once more at Harry before she set the completed lightsaber down for the moment.

With a movement of her wrist her wand slid into her hand and she asked Harry with determination, "How do I do it?" She could feel the fact that Harry was pleased, whether by her choice or her determination she was uncertain.

"Well, it's similar to how we were working with transfiguration." Harry smiled, "Granted, this one is more complicated since you're not entirely certain what you might actually be fixing. To be on the safe side, you may need the incantation here. It will help your general focus."

He gestured toward the lightsaber, "Focus your magic on the object and will it to fix all the flaws, the incantation is _'reparo'. _The incantation can sometimes help learners focus on more general things like this."

Ahsoka nodded and her brow knit in concentration and she pointed her wand at the desk. She wasn't entirely sure what he meant by willing the magic to fix the flaws, but tried to do it the same way. She waved her wand at the desk, and focused on fixing all the flaws. She didn't use the incantation because she hadn't seen Harry use them and was determined not to be handicapped.

She felt the Force move for her and the lightsaber seemed to glow for a second, but then again so did the desk underneath it. She lost her concentration as what looked to be a genuine wood desk, and one that was clearly older suddenly changed. The dark color of the wood lightened a bit and various little nicks and chips seemed to fix themselves.

Her brows furrowed in confusion as she turned to Harry for an explanation.

He seemed more amused than anything. "I told you the incantation may have helped with the focus there. You repaired everything in that area."

"Yes, but you didn't tell her to focus specifically on the lightsaber. So she repaired everything in the area Harry." Daphne's voice came from the overhead portrait correcting him meticulously.

"Note to self, no teaching in front of the wives." Harry murmured in amusement.

"Did it work?" Ahsoka asked curiously, ignoring their banter.

"I daresay it did." Harry replied, "Considering you repaired the antique desk to brand new. But there's only one way to find out."

Ahsoka nodded a bit, taking a moment to slide the wand back into the holster. Then she picked up both lightsabers.

With an indrawn breath she ignited the first one she had completed, there was a distinctive snap-hiss as a blade of light sprung to life. The saber was a very pale yellow, nearly white and the soft hum filled the air.

Ahsoka turned her head to the other lightsaber and ignited it as well. A moment later a matching blade extended in the air, with the same pale yellow color.

"They feel good…" She grinned and experimentally swung the blades through a few experimental twirls, becoming familiar with them. "And it feels good to be armed again."

Harry just watched her with an amused smile on her face as she stepped back and spun, and he had to admit she moved with a competence and grace that spoke of an immense amount of time training and wielding such weapons. His gaze was entirely appreciative of the amount of time and work it took to achieve that skill, and had nothing to do with his appreciation for her figure.

She stopped a few moments later, shutting down the sabers and turning to meet his gaze. "Aren't you going to try yours out?"

"What? Oh… yeah." Harry responded sheepishly. Without quite the fanfare she had done, he picked up the lightsaber turning it a bit in his hand to get familiar with it, then he ignited it.

His lightsaber also ignited with a snap hiss, and a hum filled the air as the blade extended away from him.

There was silence as Harry examined the blade, "Huh…" he spoke eloquently.

Ahsoka burst out into giggles, "Harry… your.. your lightsaber is… pink!"

"It's not pink!" Harry defended, the clearly pink lightsaber hummed in front of him merrily as if taunting him.

Tonks guffawed loudly out of her portrait, "It's _definitely_ pink, it practically matches my favorite hair color!"

Even the refined and restrained portrait of Daphne snickered at that.

"Yeah _Master_," Ahsoka taunted, through giggles, ""What was it you said… oh yeah… what kind of girly man uses a pink lightsaber?"

Harry scowled playfully before it morphed into a smirk, "Just remember my dear apprentice, Turnabout is fair play."

He ignored the look she gave him questioning and instead gave the lightsaber a few experimental turns with his hand making it hum through the air. He did so with an uncommon grace but was left feeling clearly unimpressed.

"Well, it's interesting I guess," Harry said, shrugging a little bit and shutting the lightsaber down. "I don't think I'll be using it though."

"Even if you possess no skill with a lightsaber, you never know what the Force has in store for you. It might just come in handy." Shaak Ti interjected.

"It just… it isn't me." Harry was weighing the lightsaber in his hand. It had been an interesting exercise to build it… he just didn't feel like it fit him. He looked at Ahsoka apologetically.

Ahsoka met his eyes and smiled, "Hey you said you didn't mind me using them, despite you teaching me something else. I'm hardly going to complain about you not using one. Though I was hoping maybe we could spar you know… physically, sometime."

"I didn't say we couldn't spar _physically_," Harry grinned, emphasizing the last word, "Just that I'm not going to be doing it with a lightsaber, a weapon I'm unfamiliar with and don't much care for."

Ahsoka found herself blushing brightly at that comment as she tried to puzzle out the rest of that statement.

Shaak Ti stepped forward, looking pleased, "I must say Harry Potter, that I'm pleased. It takes a great deal of maturity to recognize when a weapon does not suit someone, much less when it doesn't suit oneself."

"Right…" Harry blinked at her statement, and then looked away, "Dobby!"

Dobby snapped into existence next to him, looking much refreshed compared to what he had been, "Yes Master Harry?"

Harry didn't even bother asking why Dobby was now wearing white overalls stained with grey splotches and had a paintbrush over his ear. "Here you go Dobby," He handed the little being the lightsaber.

Dobby took the lightsaber without complaint and turned it over in his hands a few times before pressing the button to once more ignite the lightsaber's pink blade. Dobby looked at the lightsaber for several moments before looking up at Harry in confusion. "Dobby can see in the dark. Why Master Harry give Dobby a pink light?"

Harry froze at the mention of the color and shook his head, "It's not pink.. and it isn't a light. It's a lightsaber. It is really hot and it cuts things."

"It looks pink to Dobby…" Dobby said in confusion as he turned his head left and right as he moved the sword experimentally. Harry had to jump back slightly when the being incidentally swung it his way.

In the end Dobby seemed to shrug and look up at Harry, "Well… Dobby guesses he can now slice bread and make toast at the same time."

He disappeared with a pop.

"Harry… are you sure Dobby should…" Ahsoka trailed off, not entirely sure how to phrase her question.

Harry waved it off, "Dobby maintains the ship, I doubt he'll hurt anything, and like I said this way it's getting some use."

Shaak Ti took several deep breaths, wanting to make any number of comments before she seemed to gather control of herself. She set aside his blatant disregard for the lightsaber for the moment, "Harry Potter, we just spoke to the Jedi Council."

"Oh? Am I 'Undesirable Number 1' again?" Harry asked with a quirk of his brow.

Confusion spread over Shaak Ti's face but she shook her head slightly, getting the general quirk of the message, "I was wondering if you would allow me to share the sensor data the ship took during the battle in space and share it with the Council."

"Because they're hoping to learn more about me? Or for strategic war purposes?" Harry asked with a challenging eyebrow.

"Both," Shaak Ti answered immediately and honestly.

Harry smiled slightly, pleased she was at least being honest with him. "Sure, knock yourself out. Send whatever sensor data you want to them."

Shaak Ti nodded and then looked at him for a second, hesitating, "The Council was also hoping that they could speak to you... in person." She ventured.

Harry's gaze cooled a little bit, "You mean they want to interrogate me."

"In part," Shaak Ti answered honestly once more. "But… whatever you did seems to have had an impact on the entire Force. It _feels_ different to us now. Feeling the Force now is so much _more_ now."

Harry was merely confused at that statement, "I'm not sure what you mean." He confessed.

She turned to Aayla for help, tearing her away from her thoughts for the moment, "Where before it was like drawing water from a placid lake, now it's like drawing water from an ocean that is experiencing a violent storm."

Shaak Ti nodded with Aayla's statement, "I thought it was just being around you and the… _magic _you used. But they described feeling the same thing all the way on Coruscant. And… and we had a youngling do the same thing you can do when you teleport."

Harry had been turning away but his gaze whipped back to look at her, his gaze sharp once more. "What do you mean?"

"I mean… he was trying to Force jump, and after several attempts without success attempted it and teleported. Only… he didn't mean to and didn't know how he did it." She explained, "We've never seen anything like that before. Certainly not by a youngling!"

Harry turned to lean against his desk, "That… sounds almost like accidental magic… under stress."

"See, that's more than we know, We were hoping you'd be willing to talk to the Council, share your insight." Shaak Ti explained.

"I'll consider it… maybe," Harry said shortly, without much enthusiasm, "But not right now. Maybe when we have time. We're on our way to Nar Shaddaa."

Shaak Ti bowed her head slightly in understanding, "Of course," That was far more than she had hoped to get, at least it wasn't an outright refusal.

She turned away, she was going to return to the cockpit. The meeting wouldn't take place for several hours but she was going to use the time to meditate. She was stopped by Aayla, not so much by her, but by the tone of her voice.

"Harry?" Aayla spoke up quietly.

Harry had turned slightly to say something to Ahsoka and turned back to Aayla, but any comment that he was going to make was cut short by the expression on her face.

When she saw she had his attention she continued, "You've mentioned several times being able to look in someone's mind, which is part of what you were teaching Ahsoka to protect against."

Harry nodded slowly, concern etched on his face now. "That's right,"

"How… good are you at it?" Aayla asked quietly,

"I'm very good with mind magics," Harry responded, his tone even and careful as he examined Aayla. His voice carried no boasting, just seemed to be stating a fact. Instead he was looking at her with concern. "Why are you asking?"

"I mean… could you tell if someone's thoughts or… well.. their emotions had been tampered with?" Aayla asked, her blue eyes meeting his.

"I could…" Harry said carefully, "Do you think yours have been tampered with?"

"No… yes... I don't know." A faint note of frustration entered her voice. "I mean, it did happen once where I was drugged and had my mind wiped and I still don't remember everything I lost. But.., this is different."

"How so?" Harry asked, he was aware that the attention of both Ahsoka and Shaak Ti were on Aayla but as she seemed to want to have this discussion here he wasn't going to shoo them off.

"I mean, I just sat in a Council meeting and heard of the deaths of ten thousands clones. And my instinct was that, it was disappointing because it would take a little bit to replace their numbers but otherwise it wasn't important… and that … that doesn't sound right. I mean… at the same time I'm a general and know the realities of war. But… I wouldn't have even thought anything of it if we hadn't had that discussion of slaves in the Republic. And… it just _feels_ wrong." Aayla was wringing her hands slightly, a sure sign of stress as she tried to explain. She saw Shaak Ti's frown as the woman considered Aayla's words.

She wasn't certain something was wrong with her mind, and her urge was to dismiss it, not share it. So she felt silly doing this. but there was something that felt inherently wrong.

Harry looked at her for several moments, "Are you asking me to check to see if that's the case?"

Aayla hesitated before she gathered her courage and nodded, "Yes… please."

Harry examined her expression before he spoke seriously, "You realize if I do this, and do this thoroughly, I will conceivably see every thought or memory you've ever had. I am not understating it when I say that doing this without your permission would be the worst and most extreme invasion of privacy."

Aayla swallowed in her suddenly dry mouth as her stomachs clenched, She nodded a little bit anyway.

Harry tilted his head as he examined her, "If you are uncomfortable with me. I could have the Sorting Hat look into your mind. He might be able to do the same job, and he is magic bound to protect your secrets from everyone."

Aayla took a moment to look over at the hat, still sitting next to the couch. It seemed to perk up and squirm a little bit in excitement at that thought.

That made the decision for Aayla, given her very short exposure to the hat, "No, It's... okay. I'd rather have you do it."

Harry was a bit surprised by her willingness, realizing how seriously she was taking this. Of course his first clue had been how she hadn't even seemed to scowl at him when he had given Dobby his lightsaber. "Okay. This sort of thing is best done sitting down."

He gestured and lead her over to the couch he and Ahsoka had been sitting on when he had talked about his history a few hours earlier.

She sat down and looked more than a little nervous as she looked down, "So… how do we do this?"

Harry gave her a reassuring smile, and reached over and with a gentleness that surprised Aayla lifted her chin to look in his eyes.

She was just thinking to herself about how startlingly green his eyes were, when she suddenly felt his presence inside of her mind.

Harry met Aayla's blue eyes and instantly dived in with a legilimency probe. Instantly he was awash in her thoughts and feelings. This wasn't like Ahsoka who had been organizing her thoughts at an unbelievable pace. Emotions and experiences whirled past him at the speed of thought.

Harry had long ago learned to navigate minds like this though and wasn't overwhelmed by the experience. Just like Ahsoka, the mind wasn't human, but similar enough that much of his legilimency techniques worked unaltered. He had wondered in the moments leading up to entering her mind if, since much of her long-term memory was stored in the rather attractive Lekku that adorned both sides of the back of her head, it would be much difficult to navigate across her thoughts.

However, it proved to be an unnecessary worry, as her thoughts streamed just as clear and fast as they would had she possessed a standard human mind. The memories were however more orderly. Years of being taught to clear their mind and push away thoughts and feelings had left many things far more compartmentalized than they might otherwise be.

Harry passed through the memories at the speed of his own thought. He was checking for anything that might scream mental manipulation to him on the surface of memories before he plunged deeper into the workings of her mind.

From her perspective, Aayla was able to instantly feel and view the same snippets of her life that Harry did. They flashed by her own mind's eye at an unbelievable pace, so fast that she wondered how Harry would be able to comprehend anything with no point of reference for the vast majority of them.

It was like nothing she had ever experienced in her life. She had experienced Dark Side acolytes attempting to read her mind before. She had also seen Jedi control the will of others when they wanted information. Jedi would forcefully exert their will to get information needed from whomever they were interrogating. Usually that felt like someone was bashing at her head with a battering ram.

This was completely different. His touch was feather light, but she clearly felt him, though she got the impression that was by design and that he intended for her to be able to tell where he was in her head. She could feel it as he peered a memory, examined it and then moved on at a dizzying pace. She could tell that not only was he observing the memory itself but feeling her associated emotions and thoughts regarding those memories.

It was like he was examining her entire emotional state at every given moment in her life.

Eventually though, she stopped worrying about Harry's presence and skills while in her mind, as she became focused on what she saw. She could, peripherally feel his gentleness as things came to the forefront of her mind that had not been focused upon in years. She remembered bits from her very young childhood on Ryloth, long-forgotten words of wisdom during her classes as a youngling, all superimposed over the feelings that she had slowly started to acquire during this trip.

It was then that she realized her own thoughts could influence the stream of conscious thought, as her brief thought of the current trip and the wild ride it had been. That had inevitably lead her to thoughts to the visions she had gotten. As she relived the darkness and death that she had seen. Of course those had also included the visions of sexual intercourse she foresaw her and Harry partake in flashed repeatedly in her mind, much to her own mortification and humiliation.

She tried desperately not to think about them or linger on them but it was self defeating, by trying not to think about them specifically she brought them back up repeatedly, causing her to be further humiliated in a vicious cycle.

She felt a mental push in her mind, as Harry purposefully moved past those thoughts and pulled them both out of that cycle. Curiously she also felt a wave of comfort emanate from him that seemed to soothe her rising panic and indeed was the only thing that allowed her not to freak out and try and flail about and cast him from her mind.

His gentle touch of reassurance, even as he moved past those memories allowed her to refocus and follow him deeper into her thoughts as he continued to search for something.

Finally he seemed to stop and just hover in her mind, without examining any memories. Idly she wondered if there were any more memories in her mind for him to examine. He had seen so much, and her entire life had been laid bare. She could tell he was still there but she couldn't tell if he was doing anything or not.

Harry's presence suddenly shifted in her mind. To Aayla's point of view, it felt like he had gone from moving through her mind at a singular point to the feeling that he was _everywhere _at once. She felt his presence practically surrounding her and examining her entire being.

Then, with an almost feather-like quality, the presence receded, and Aayla found herself staring into Harry's eyes again as his fingers left her chin.

"That's… very... strange," he muttered to himself as he continued to gaze at her, though after a few seconds Aayla realized he wasn't truly seeing her at the moment.

With his presence no longer in her mind calming her, the fact that Harry had obviously witnessed the full scope of her vision of the two of them mid-coitus came back immediately, causing her to flush a darker pink. The fact that she knew he also seen all of her emotions, doubts, and desires associated to the possible futures also left an extreme sense of unease within her.

Eventually, as she registered that he still had not said anything else, and that he gave no indication that he intended to she whispered, "What did you find?"

His eyes refocused on her, and he gave her a bit of a sad smile, "I did find some blocked memories, though they were definitely not caused by anything magical in origin. The blockages themselves felt thick and sludgy. I'm going to hazard a guess and say they were not trauma or self induced. It was probably some combination of chemicals that were behind it."

Aayla nodded almost absently at this, as he'd only confirmed what she already knew. When she had been kidnapped earlier in her career as a Jedi and brainwashed, some of the memories the glytteral suppressed still had not been recovered.

"However," his voice interrupted her thoughts as it turned puzzled, "There were some subtle but very strong compulsions. Some of them designed to encourage some things, others to subtly discourage others."

Her own worry over the implications of such a thing quickly became overshadowed by the feeling of true frustration that she felt from him through her empathic abilities.

"I just don't understand how they got there though," he said with no small amount of irritation and confusion in his voice, "The compulsions are buried _in_ the mind. Almost at the point where your conscious thought ends and the subconscious mind begins."

Harry saw that his verbal stream of thoughts had attracted the attention of both Ahsoka and Shaak Ti, both of whom had quietly watched the entire examination of Aayla by Harry.

He directed his words now at all three women, "The only way I've ever known anyone to accomplish such a thing is through active direct casting, and usually even that wouldn't be as deeply entrenched as what I just found in Aayla. That means _years_ of direct continuous exposure to whatever is doing this. And you have no memories of anything like that."

"A similar effect could be replicated by long term exposure to an object you keep with you that was laced with compulsions. The problem with that is that those compulsions would be more on your conscious thought patterns, and easier to discern. Your unconscious and subconscious would reject the compulsions and that's not happening here." Harry rubbed his chin, "And I know for a fact you don't have any objects with compulsions on them because my wards and protections would have warned me."

Her ability to sense him suddenly cut off as he frowned and looked strangely contemplative. He turned to Ahsoka, "Do you mind if I check your mind over again? I need some basis for comparison."

"Go ahead," The younger Togruta agreed immediately with his request with a brief nod as she looked into his eyes. Harry didn't even move from his spot on the couch next to Aayla. He merely peered with purpose into Ahsoka's eyes from where she stood ten feet away with her extinguished lightsabers in that she had apparently clipped to her belt in the scant minutes it had taken to scan Aayla's mind.

Aayla felt the extremely tight controlled burst of the Force issue forth from Harry, one that almost immediately stopped. He looked annoyed for the briefest of moments before he said aloud, "She doesn't have anything similar to what you did. I didn't think I missed anything the other night, but I'd rather be safe than sorry."

Harry's frustration was almost palpable now as he ran a hand over his chin as he seemed to consider the problem at hand. He gave off a very dangerous vibe even if Aayla couldn't quite put her finger on how.

It was curious to Aayla to see his reaction. Since she had met him she had seen him confronted with the unexpected several times. From Ahsoka's control and use of her magic, to Shaak Ti's appearance outside of his home in the depths of Kashyyyk. He had usually reacted with interest, and even excitement when faced with the unexpected or unknown. He had quite cheerfully admitted to not knowing everything and seemed to like that fact.

However, he was visibly irritated and even upset. In fact the times she had seen him like this had been when faced with a potential danger to Ahsoka, or when confronted with the slavers or later the invaders on Kashyyyk. She had seen the defensiveness and response he had when those he cared about were threatened.

It hit her then like a fully loaded freighter that the response he was feeling now was because something malicious had been done to someone he cared about. The idea that he was acting protective of her. That he cared for her caused a little thrill to go through Aayla. Not enough to make her smile given the circumstance, but something to be examined later.

"What does that mean, Harry?" Ahsoka asked quietly. "Can you fix it? Like you did with my memory block?"

"I… don't know," Harry admitted after some pause. "I mean, yeah, I can fix it. Things in that area can be a little bit tricky, but I can do it. But, if I do it without knowing how it happened, I'm liable to miss something, or I'm just curing a symptom of something while ignoring the root cause."

"Hell… if I knew why she had them and you didn't, that would be helpful," Harry muttered as he ran a hand through his hair.

"So… you're looking for the differences between us?" Aayla asked as she watched Harry's expression.

"There are any number of differences between the two of you that might or might not account for this," Harry shook his head negatively, "You are different races, different ages, from different planets. She's damn near mastered occlumency. She's had bursts of accidental magic. She was a padawan, you are a Master. You've been drugged and had portions of your memory blocked. Any number of those could account for differences."

"But for this sort of level of embedded compulsion? It takes years of exposure and I'm at a loss as to what has caused it. If I knew why you have it and she doesn't, I could figure out _how_ it was done, which is as important as clearing it up in the first place," Harry stated as his eyes flicked back and forth between the two as if looking at them alone could determine their differences.

"Would it help if you examined me?" inquired Shaak Ti.

Harry glanced over at the woman who hadn't said a word since Aayla had brought the topic up. He made no attempt to hide the surprise that was on his face, instead he just regarded her thoughtfully.

Taking his silence for uncertainty, Shaak Ti moved forward slightly, her voice even, lacking uncertainty. "While I realize I do not know you as well, perhaps if you read me, you may be able be able to eliminate many of the variables."

"You're certain?" Harry inquired carefully, knowing she had heard the warning about privacy and not thinking he needed to repeat it. He also knew that it would be helpful for him to figure things out.

"Aayla is my friend and if she has these compulsions you describe this will help you better determine why Ahsoka and I do not have these compulsions, and Aayla does." Shaak Ti replied without a hint of concern for herself in her voice.

Aayla gave the other Jedi Master a grateful look. She was doing her best not to panic, after her experience with glytteral, having her mind messed with was one of the few things she truly had not been able to get past completely. Even to this day she had nightmares where she had never returned to the Jedi Order, where she had remained a slave. Where she was still watching her body go through motions not knowing who she was, while a part of her, the part she was in the nightmare screamed for herself to remember. Though she had to admit Harry's demeanor was helping her as well. He wasn't freaking out, and seemed to be dealing with it calmly and rationally.

Harry regarded her for a moment, then shook his head before he said, "Bloody Gryffindors the lot of you."

"I can't think of a better example of the pot calling the kettle black, ever," Daphne's voice chimed in from the wall where she and Tonks had observed the process.

"And I'll thank you to leave the sorting to the professional, Mr. Potter," the Hat grumped from the table.

Harry rolled his eyes and ignored both comments as he waved Shaak Ti over to the couch. The Jedi Master moved over and sat without complaint. She turned and met Harry's eyes without hesitation.

"You heard the warning I gave her?" asked Harry, as he wanted to be certain she had heard him.

"I did, and am aware of what this will entail. Proceed, Harry Potter," she said quietly, yet firmly.

Harry nodded and then met Shaak Ti's dark eyes.

Shaak Ti wasn't aware of it, but her experience was the exact reverse of Aayla's, where she felt Harry's presence suffuse her entire being for several moments. Then she felt his presence narrow to a singular point as he began searching through her memories.

Shaak Ti reflected that this did not feel like a personal violation. Harry was methodical but didn't' seem to dig into her mind as was the sensation she was expecting. She didn't know how long it had taken but felt Harry pull out of her mind after searching her mind and memories.

When he withdrew she was surprised to see his gaze was now pensive.

"Did you find something in my mind?" Shaak Ti asked curiously.

Harry shook his head and abruptly stood up, pushing up from the couch. "Not… what I was expecting," he answered as he stood up and looked down at the ground with his eyes shut after only a few steps, one hand on his forehead and the other on the back of his head after it had gone through his hair.

"Did you find something that explains why she has these… compulsions in her mind and we do not?" Shaak Ti asked, more intent now as she watched him move.

Harry glanced back at her, "That's just the thing. You _both_ have compulsions in your mind, right along the area where your conscious and subconscious meet, bridging it."

"You… are certain?" Shaak Ti asked, her composure looking shaken at the very idea.

Aayla looked stunned and Ahsoka wasn't far behind, though her eyes were following Harry. She could feel her master's puzzlement and determination as he seemed to be turning it over in his head.

"Yes, I'm positive." Harry replied, "But the bizarre thing is that neither of you have any memories of being subjected to such compulsions. And with the level and depth that you both have it's been going on _years._ Not only do I not see how the compulsions got entrenched where they are in your mind, but I don't see how they were applied in the first place."

Shaak Ti now looked uncertain, "But… I did not feel what Aayla described. I felt sadness for the loss of the clones. Each individual is a terrible loss. I still feel that."

"That's the other weird thing," Harry admitted, "The compulsions on you are different… to an extent. As in they're pushing different things… sort of. While to an extent both of you have magic that seems to be… not so much restricting as it is making it harder for you to consciously use your 'Force'. They also seem to be slightly muting emotions in general for both of you. But there are differences as well."

"On Aayla, the compulsions seem to be trying to mute her empathy. As well as strengthen subconscious insecurities she has about her heritage as a Twi'lek." Harry scratched the back of his head, "On Master Ti, it seems to mute the need you mentioned having for groups, as well as an aversion to youths or instructing them?"

"That in itself is weird," Harry mused as he scratched his cheek, "Since I could see the impact that hoarding knowledge might have, but why mute something that would actually make it easier to follow your Jedi code?"

Harry shook his head, not certain of the answer for that before he continued "The one thing I'm relatively certain of is that whoever did this to both of you, is the same person."

That had both of the Jedi Masters looking at him sharply, "How do you know that?"

"Every person's use of magic is subtly different. Think of it… like a fingerprint. No two are the same, and both sets of compulsions have the same taint of darkness," Harry explained, almost distractedly.

"What I don't understand is _how_," Harry muttered as he again ran a hand through his hair absently. "How the compulsions could be implanted without either of you having memories of it?"

Abruptly Harry reached out his hand and the Sorting Hat flew from the table with a startled cry. He wasted no time in putting the hat back on his head, not even breaking his stride as he did.

"Well, of course I'll help you, Mister Potter." The Hat stated grumpily, "Especially after you're asking so nicely! I'll be happy to provide the insight of another expert." The sarcasm practically dripped from his tone.

"Oh shut up," Harry replied shortly.

"Hmm, well that… is most interesting," The hat mused, ignoring Harry's grumpiness. "You are right, the same magic with no memory of how it is applied hints at it being some sort of object. But… nothing on them, and nothing in your apprentice. And the compulsions are in the wrong place in the mind."

Harry nodded, "Exactly my thought."

"It's as if… their mind was accepting the compulsion…" the Hat continued, "Mutating based on their thoughts. That's why it was making such inroads to the unconscious."

"Right, but how was it applied?" Harry questioned, his brow furrowed well aware of but ignoring all eyes on him currently.

"Mm. Do you know what it most reminds me of?" The Hat inquired, "It's not exactly the same, as the compulsions are rooted far more deeply here, and from your own perspective seem more varied in how they were affecting the minds of the two…"

Harry's eyes went upward, "Yes?"

"Do you remember the compulsion wards in the Slytherin male rooms that were discovered shortly after your daughter started Hogwarts?" The hat inquired.

"Yes, Voldemort had added a curse that affected people the longer they were around it, they became more aggressive, had a tendency toward dark magic and increased tendency to follow someone more powerful," Harry replied slowly. "Really subtle, but otherwise very sloppy truth be told. I thought he was experimenting. I wasn't even sure he realized that he succeeded."

"We always assumed that because it was on the boys side only it must have been done when he was a student," Harry added after a moment's thought. "You think something has been done to the Jedi Temple then?"

"It's possible…" The Hat replied though there was doubt in its voice. "But then… I would expect to see signs of time when those compulsions were not present, leaving breaks in how they impacted the mind. There's also the fact that it's rooted so deeply in the subconscious. So… I highly doubt that it's been done to the temple."

"Then why doesn't Ahsoka have it?" Harry replied.

"I don't know," The Hat squirmed and shifted on his head, "It would really help if I was allowed to examine it firsthand. Perhaps I can see something you did not."

Harry hesitated and then turned to Aayla and tilted his head, "Would you allow the Hat to do the same?"

"Do you really think it will help?" Aayla asked eyeing the hat doubtfully.

"I think it wouldn't hurt." Harry replied carefully.

Aayla hesitated and glanced over at Shaak Ti who seemed to be handling the possibility far better than her Twi'lek counterpart.

It was the work of a moment for Harry to move over and set the hat on her head.

Aayla cringed slightly expecting to feel… _something_ when the hat was placed on her head, but though she sensed the Force, she really couldn't feel another presence in her mind like she could when Harry was there.

"Mm… Haven't got to do this in awhile. Too bad This one is easy. Gotta be… Gryffindor!" The hat bellowed suddenly, startling everyone there save for Harry.

"I told you, now can you move on to what we're doing here?" Harry demanded impatiently.

"The formalities must be observed Mister Potter," the Hat replied primly. "My apologies Aaylas'ecura, it is part of the magic that created me."

Aayla was startled at being addressed by her proper name as she looked up at the hat perched on her head and then to Harry who had stopped pacing and was watching with a curious expression.

Harry rolled his eyes, "It's his way of saying you're brave of heart."

"It's… okay?" she offered eventually, forgiving the Hat for whatever it had just apologized for.

"Hrm. Most interesting," the Hat muttered, seeming to ignore the reply, "You realize that these are going to be… more than a little challenging to remove?"

Harry waved it off, "I'm aware. Are you seeing anything that I might of missed?"

"It's interesting that there doesn't seem to be any specific pattern of progression in the conscious mind that we can follow." The Hat replied. "No way to determine a timeline of any sort."

After a few moments of silence, the Hat offered with a rumbling tone, "I _can_ tell you that there is no correlation between location and strength of compulsions."

"So then it can't be localized to something like the Temple," Harry replied.

"Correct, Mister Potter," the Hat offered. The hat seemed to shift a bit on Aayla's head. "It would help if I could examine young Miss Tano as well. See if I could figure out why she wouldn't have it while the two other ladies do."

Harry looked at Ahsoka with a raised eyebrow, and she just shrugged in response, not seeming particularly bothered by the prospective. Harry reached out and snagged the hat from off of Aayla's head and moved to set it on Ahsoka's head.

The fabric shifted slightly as it settled on her head. "Ooh, what an interesting mind this one has. Difficult… very difficult."

Harry sighed and crossed his arms with an impatient expression on his face.

Ahsoka just looked at him with a questioning expression. "He has to sort you. It's how the magic works. Then he can be of help." Harry explained.

"This one is even tougher than your sorting Mister Potter, but… in the end it has to be… Hufflepuff!" The hat stated triumphantly.

"That's great. Woohoo," Harry said without any sort of excitement in his tone, "Now can we get on with it?"

"What's a Hufflepuff?" Ahsoka asked curiously.

Harry looked at her sharply and then his face softened to amusement, "Hufflepuff's valued loyalty and hard work. Trait's that are fairly obvious that you've shown in abundance."

"Mm. Quite the occlumency skill this one has. Most impressive." The hat interjected as it ignored Harry's explanation, "You are correct, she doesn't have any of the same things imbedded in her mind."

"Which we already knew," Harry said impatiently.

"Yes… but you don't know why. And I do." The Hat responded in a snarky tone. Without waiting for the inevitable follow-up question from him the Hat continued, "It's possible she had them not long ago. But right now she can't, and in a sense, that is your fault Mister Potter."

"Given that you have an Apprentice Bond with this one," the Hat explained, "To the best of my knowledge, the bond will not allow that sort of effect on. Essentially no one else is allowed to have a hold over your Apprentice. A fact that has remained true throughout history."

"Unfortunately, all traces of anything that might have been there are gone," the Hat summarized, "You can chalk that up to her amazingly quick mastery of occlumency, your own presence in dispelling magic her mind, or her impressive burst of accidental magic. Anyone of those things could have erased the traces."

"Great, so we know she's not and we have ideas as to why she's not infected, but we have no idea if she was. Nor do we know how it's happening," Harry sighed in disappointment.

"The crux of the matter lies in the fact that it's able to delve so deeply into their unconscious and subconscious. Whatever is doing it… it's like the Jedi are consciously, trying to accept it, even if they are unawares." The Hat replied.

"Which makes no sense, how are they _accepting_ it without realizing it's happening?" Harry asked.

"What if it's the Dark Lord doing it?" Ahsoka suddenly interjected.

"There's really no question that It's definitely someone whose presence is tainted. We already knew that," the Hat replied with irritation and even a trace of condescension in his voice. "But we don't know who or how. Which if you haven't followed is what we're trying to figure out now."

Ahsoka ignored the Hat on her head entirely, and addressed Harry, "I mean what if it's like the Dark Lord clouding the Jedi's visions of the future? Making it so they're unable to trust their own instincts... Could it be like that?"

Harry opened his mouth to reply and then froze. His mouth worked soundlessly as he considered Ahsoka's statement.

The Hat shifted on Ahsoka's head, looking down at the woman whose head he was sitting on and then back to Harry. "Your Apprentice is an exceptionally perceptive one, perhaps Hufflepuff was hasty, Ravenclaw truly might have been better."

"If this… Dark Lord of theirs is doing something to cloud their visions of the Force, affecting their sight... it's possible that it's doing more..." Harry worked through slowly, "But that doesn't explain how the compulsions are so deep. A mind has natural defenses against that sort of thing, and while a Jedi's mind isn't necessarily secure, they are somewhat more organized than most and have experience exercising their mind and will."

"My question is, how are you not affected?" Shaak Ti ventured, "Whether you call it the Force or Magic, it is still the same power. No matter what you name it."

"Mr. Potter has always has a unique connection to magic, Miss Shaak Ti. Because of the nature of who he is, he just would not allow that sort of thing," the Hat answered for Harry. "But… that brings to mind an interesting thought."

Harry turned to regard the Hat, still perched on Ahsoka's head, "What's that?"

"I believe, the answer may lie in _how _the Jedi utilize their so called 'Force'," the Hat said slowly, as it seemed to be working it out on the spot.

"What do you mean?" Aayla asked.

"In your mind the central lessons include letting the Force guide you," The hat replied, "And of late the mysterious Dark Lord has thrown a cloak over it so it affects your visions…"

There was a pause as Harry seemed to realized the same answer the hat had come up with, and found himself agreeing with the logic, "Clever bastard…"

"Indeed," the Sorting Hat agreed without any sound of joking or humor, "Even if the Force works differently from magic, if he is able to do it on this scale, then he is _incredibly_ powerful as well. You should be cautious in any confrontation, Mister Potter."

"What is it?" Aayla demanded, feeling like she was missing half the conversation.

"If my theory-," Harry began.

"Ours!" interjected the Hat.

"-is right," Harry continued ignoring the Hat. "The magic is in your mind so deeply because of how you use the 'Force'. You let it fill you and guide you. You consciously allow it to control your body, your thoughts and your impulses."

"Yes…" Aayla said slowly.

"So you're allowing it to guide you and training your mind to follow it's urging. But it's been affected by whatever this Dark Lord has done, so you're accepting its guidance despite the fact that you know it's been touched by darkness," Harry said slowly. "You're _letting_ it in consciously. Your mind is still resistant to foreign ideas but you're weakening your own defenses consciously… and you're doing it every time you use the Force that way."

"Are you saying what I think you're saying?" Ahsoka asked slowly.

"I'm saying that, if our theory is right, and it's the only one we have where the pieces fit," Harry hedged, his voice grim, "Then across the galaxy, any time a Jedi uses or seeks guidance from the Force, they're allowing compulsions focusing on their Force connection and weaknesses a little bit deeper into their mind."

"It's like there's an airborne plague, and every Jedi is running around without breathing masks," Harry concluded.

**ooOooOOooOoo**

The room was covered in blackened and scorched walls, and droids that lay in smoldering heaps as cleaning droids moved the pieces away to be scrapped.

The sound of cold and cruel laughter filled the air.

He had retreated to the privacy of his quarters and from there to a secret passage to one of many hidden rooms. This one a training room. A place he could use his powers without fear of being discovered.

Palpatine held both of his hands in the air in front of him and watched as flames ignited a few centimeters over the palms of his hands. The fire burned with only the slightest application of his will.

He negligently threw his hand and the fireball smashed into yet another training droid, causing it to explode and melt in a matter of moments.

While the Force had changed, it had also opened up… so many new avenues. Avenues the Sith were unafraid to explore while the Jedi fretted about what it meant.

The explosion in the Force had briefly interrupted the shroud he had over his presence. That was easily re-established. He simply willed his Force-presence not to be felt outside of his body.

The rest… was harder. The Force felt so much different now. It was _more._ Stronger. More potent. Re-establishing his clouding of the Force seemed more difficult as if he wasn't able to affect it like he did before. even though his grasp was stronger.

However as he kept abreast of the Jedi comings and goings, he learned that they were barely able to meditate to seek answers without feeling overwhelmed. So he had time to spread his shroud once more.

Palpatine also found his own abilities to see the future clouded, the Force didn't give answers like it seemed to. He wasn't sure what to make of that yet but assumed it was just a matter of time. Despite this lack of vision he already was making contingency plans in case his identity was discovered at least a year before he had originally planned.

He had not even had to send out spies to find out what had happened to cause all of this. The Jedi Order had provided all the answers. It seemed like the catalyst was the bounty hunter who had taken up with Skywalker's former apprentice.

He had let his apprentice know that he wanted the man caught and detained and to spare no effort in doing so. Palpatine was not going to let the Jedi get their hands on him to learn all his secrets.

Even if three subhuman Jedi were already traveling with him, that was easily rectified by pushing up the bounties even higher on them, and having his apprentice send any and all acolytes after them.

The Dark Lord of the Sith had reviewed what he had discovered from the Jedi at the same time as discovering the catalyst. He knew things were different.. but this…

He steeled his will. If a youngling at the Jedi Temple could do it, so could he.

Palpatine narrowed his eyes and focused and concentrated on being in another spot in the room. He felt the Force build up around him and then felt himself grabbed and squeezed and heard a pop. He stumbled as he found himself on the other side of the room.

He turned and with burst of will and power, teleported back to the other side of the room. This time the movement was easier, at least the landing anyway.

In a rare loss of composure, Palpatine threw his head back and laughed in delight. This was just the start, and though his responsibilities would pull him away shortly, he was to determined to find out exactly what he could do in any spare moment he could find.

No matter how it had happened it was clearly a blessing from the Force itself.

**ooOooOOooOoo**

**Author's notes:**

**1) Hell of a chapter! I apologize if it felt like a lot of exposition, but we needed to get some of it out there. Truthfully we were going to keep going but the chapter would have gone on to probably twice this size. But you have the History of Harry in this chapter. To an extent. Obviously not everything… but kind of bares more light on it. You also have an idea that the Dark Lord might be more clever than expected. **

**2) Sorry to those who were screaming for an update. Between working on this and other projects as well as you know.. school. Means I never promise anything and update when I can and think something is ready.**

**3) Plums Piddlings: This chapter has been roughly "done" for about 2 months, but the last 3-4 scenes were what held up everything. Plus, writing in a ridiculous number of distraction-stories between the two of us.**

**Our shared Google-drive space is an absolute mess.**

**This is also the final destination of the "history of Harry" we said you all eventually would get waaaay back in like, chapter 2. This little conversation has bounced around a lot, and it finally ended up here.**

**Kat: Seriously. Random stories and chapters seem to appear every day. But it's fun… and in some of our down time I got him to update Last Second Savior. If you haven't read that… you should RIGHT NOW. GO GO. **

**Alternative Chapter Titles:**

"**History of Harry." - Ahsoka Tano**

"That would be the most boring series of books of all time." - Harry

"**In which the Order gets even more interested in Harry Potter." - Shaak Ti**

"I told you in chapter one. Perverts. The lot of them." - Harry

"**I knew Aayla had a kinky mind." - Harry Potter**

"Speaking of perverts."- Aayla

"**Harry's BAMF lightsaber… is pink." - Ahsoka.**

"it's not pink… it's lightish red." - Harry

"They have a word for that. It's called pink."- Ahsoka. (RVB quote)

"**And he struck down on thee with great vengeance..."- Mace Windu **

"Oh shut up." - Harry.

"Pink." - a snickering Mace Windu.

"**Dobby becomes a Jedi."- **Dobby

"Your are not." - Harry

"Dobby has lightsaber. And saves people and beats bad guys. That makes him Jedi." - Dobby

"Dobby…" - Harry

"Ah ah… it be Master Dobby now!" - Dobby

"**I made Kenobi say 'civilized'! My record remains intact!"- Plums**

"**Sorting Jedi!" - The Sorting Hat.**

"Seriously. I think you just make all that shit up and either go with the most irritating possibility or you just pick randomly."- Harry

"You're just angry I didn't loudly declare Miss Secura should be part of a strippers house." - Hat

"I always heard that was Ravenclaw." - Harry

"Well… you know what they say about the quiet ones." - Hat.


	14. Ah, A Clue!

**~Chapter 14: Ah! A Clue!~**

Aayla and Shaak Ti could only stare at Harry as the possible reality of that statement settled into their minds. For them it was like taking a blaster bolt to the face, seeing that letting the Force guide them was the entire basis of their Force use.

"You said you can get rid of it?" Shaak Ti reiterated, her voice slightly strained, but still relatively calm.

"I… can," Harry said slowly nodding, "But… if we're right, it won't matter."

"How so?" Shaak Ti asked, her tone level.

"Because every time you use the Force, every time you seek its guidance... because of this Shroud you describe, the impulses will return, and unless I miss my guess it won't be a gradual process. It's already entrenched in your mind. Think of it like a drainage ditch dug in the ground and filled with water. You can get rid of the water, but next time it rains the water goes right back to the way it was."

"Is there a way to stop it from happening at all?" Aayla asked, her tone was far less composed than Shaak Ti's. Her brow was furrowed in concern, though her skin was still a vivid pink.

"If Ahsoka is protected, then there must be." Shaak Ti answered, though her gaze like Aayla's was on Harry. She didn't doubt what Harry had said. The moment he said it, things _clicked_ in her mind. She knew instinctively that he was right, and that the sudden nudge in the Force just convinced her further.

"That is a direct result of her being apprenticed," The sorting hat interjected back into the conversation, "That bond gives her an amount of protection from certain forms of control."

"Could that work for us?" Aayla inquired looking at the hat which was still perched on Ahsoka's head.

"Unlikely," the hat replied in a musing tone. "It's not as simple as saying 'you're an apprentice.' It's the intent in the magic. Being an apprentice is not the same as being a student. The fact that Miss Tano has such a bond means she had the intent to learn until both she and her master feel she is ready, or one of two possible circumstances force a change."

"What possible circumstances?" Ahsoka asked, sounding surprised, her eyes looking upward at the hat still rested on her head. However the answer came from elsewhere.

"Well, the completion of the intent is pretty obvious." Harry responded with a wry smile.

"Harry is correct," The portrait of Tonks replied, "That's the first way. She is his apprentice until they both agree that she has learned all she needs regarding whatever subject he agreed to apprentice her in."

"Um, yeah. About that…" Harry said sheepishly, rubbing the back of his head.

"Harry... what did you do?" Tonks voice demanded from her portrait, arms crossed as she glared down at him.

"Oh. This should be good," the Hat murmured from Ahsoka's head.

"Hey! Why do you always assume it's me?!" Harry replied with a huff. The portraits of both his wives stared at him.

"Experience," Tonks huffed out with a mumble with her arms crossed. Daphne's portrait merely raised an eyebrow choosing to remain silent.

Harry deflated slightly, "Yeah, that's probably fair."

"A little more than probably. So… what did you do?" Tonks demanded.

"Yeah… I sorta just took her on as an apprentice." he explained.

"Yes, we heard. In what?" Tonks waved him on.

"Um. Nothing specific. It… was more Apprentice in general," Harry said, wincing a little bit.

"I… what do you mean 'in general'?" Tonks demanded.

"Like it wasn't in a specific subject. It was a general statement, about me teaching her magic. The magic I know," Harry explained.

"... The magic you know? As in, _all_ the magic you know?" Tonks demanded a little shrilly. Daphne's eyebrows both shot up but she didn't add anything.

Harry just shrugged helplessly. Tonks just stared at him for a few moments before she started to giggle. Daphne looked far more thoughtful than amused, though the Hat let out a small chortle.

"You said there were two ways to break it," Ahsoka ventured, her tone curious. "What's the other way?"

"Betrayal," Daphne's portrait spoke up, cutting off the hat which had opened its brim to speak. All amusement at her husband's position or what he may have done gone.

Ahsoka, looked up sharply at that comment. The portrait's words when she had first mentioned being his apprentice came back to her. _"Historically, there are a small number that resulted in great betrayals when an apprentice betrays their master. It never ends well… for master or apprentice." _

"Correct," The Hat agreed with her memory of the statement, "Though Mrs. Potter-Black's comment at the time was only partially true."

Ahsoka looked up and realized that the Hat was able to read her thoughts and must have seen that one. She ignored the looks from Aayla and Shaak Ti who were only hearing half a conversation

"Partially true?" The portrait questioned the Hat with a puzzled tone.

"Yes, a small number did result in great betrayals, and those betrayals never ended well." The Hat nodded once more, clearly relishing a conversational and educational role, "However it was as often the Master that betrayed the apprentice. It is a mutual bond, and thus both sides bear responsibility."

Aayla's eyes flicked to Shaak Ti's. She was reminded of something that Shaak Ti said back on Kashyyyk, about the state between Harry and Ahsoka being a master and apprentice relationship rather than one between a master and padawan. She could see by the slight glance Shaak Ti sent her way that she was thinking the same thing.

"And given how history books are almost inherently biased, I cannot say I'm surprised details like that have slipped through," Harry said, his tone one of wry amusement.

The tip of the Hat waggled slightly in an approximation of a nod, "Quite right."

Harry shook his head and looked at Aayla, getting back to the topic at hand, "Look, I'm pretty sure I can't just take you all as apprentices. It's pretty obvious the magic doesn't work that way."

"Nor does it solve the problem of what is happening," Shaak Ti commented.

"One solution is obvious," Harry stated as he looked up at them both. "Killing or destroying whoever or whatever is causing it at the source."

"We've been trying for years," Aayla stated, more than a little irritation in her voice, although Harry took no offense. Her anger clearly wasn't directed at him. "The Order has been hunting him. We don't think it's Count Dooku, but we don't even know if he's the one pulling the strings, or if he's just another puppet. Whoever his ally is, we can't even find him."

"The other option is to find a way around it." Harry rubbed his chin thoughtfully, "I mean I'm pretty sure that you're safe on my ship, given its protections, and my house back on Kashyyyk. But limiting you to just that area would be the same as imprisoning you."

"You can protect your ship." Aayla agreed slowly, "I mean that much is obvious, as I had a vision here… as did Ahsoka."

Ahsoka glanced at Harry with a somewhat guilty look on her face, but he hadn't batted an eye at the comment. She wondered if he had had her tell Aayla when they were at his house on Kashyyyk.

"Is there anything else you can do about it?" Aayla finally asked, looking at Harry.

"I'm... not sure," Harry said as his mouth twisted in thought, "I'll have to think on it awhile and get back to you."

Seeing Aayla's expression he quickly followed up, his tone reassuring. "Whatever was done to you can't be used to directly control your actions, not without it being a hell of a lot deeper. Given the fact that it's been affecting you for years, a little while longer isn't going to hurt anything."

"I promise to try and come up with a workable way to protect you without confining you to the ship. But it might take me a while." He reasoned.

She nodded a little bit, looking only slightly mollified. Having one of her worst fears confirmed, someone messing with her mind, clearly destroyed her equilibrium for a moment.

"In the meantime I recommend you try and put some effort into occlumency. It will help protect and fortify your mind from other attacks and intrusions." He grinned a bit and gestured, "If you need help, ask Ahsoka for pointers. She is, quite possibly, the fastest learner in history."

Ahsoka blushed at the praise and the genuine trust he was treating her with. "Harry, I'm hardly an expert."

"Miss Tano, I can tell you from my experience that the rate with which you learned is astounding," The Hat spoke from her head. "And you might be better suited to give instruction in this case."

"Better suited because I've had Jedi training?" ventured Ahsoka.

There was a brief pause from the Hat before it replied, "Sure, let's go with that," in a tone that was anything but convincing.

"Oh, and here I thought it might have been because of Harry's tendency to make suggestive comments as well as turning people other colors." Ahsoka responded without hesitation, glancing at a still pink Aayla, before shooting a grin at Harry.

"You forgot his legendary ability to irritate any creature that possesses anything remotely resembling sentience," the Hat added helpfully, in a smug and pleased tone.

"Just remember, Miss Tano. I've not even scratched the surface of magical pranks." Harry rolled his eyes, but it didn't hide the smirk on his face. She didn't acknowledge the comment beyond a roll of her eyes.

After another glance at the Jedi, he then pushed himself up. "In the meantime, we've got a few days before we reach Nar Shaddaa, and I'm going to see if I can find anything in my books that might help."

**oOoOooOoOOoOooOoOo**

"It is encouraging to hear that. Do let me know if you require any assistance." The man said genially.

The wookiee on the other end of the transmission roared in affirmative before disconnecting the holocall.

Palpatine's hand slammed into the arm of the chair in a show of frustration just a moment after the beast disconnected the call. The animal had just been informing the Chancellor that their King was refusing to allow the Republic to have any part in salvaging the Separatist ships left in orbit of Kashyyyk.

Palpatine wasn't really sure what irked him more. The disrespect of the beast at turning him down. The loss of chance to see any scans or read outs of the battle that might be better than the fragmentary and confusing ones received from his apprentice which were taken from the damaged ships of the fleet that limped back to Separatist space.

The fact that the King had claimed the fleet all under a galactic law Palpatine himself had been instrumental in passing as a Senator just rankled at him. Ostensibly the law had been to help discourage pirate attacks on planets by saying the planetary governments could confiscate ships proven hostile. In practice, he was subtly trying to work to help build a Confederacy power base.

The impact of losing that fleet was a large one which was definitely upsetting the Sith Lord. Nearly that entire fleet had been lost or now required major repairs to operate safely again. This stopped another planned major offensive. The Separatist General Grievous had planned a series of assaults and sieges in the Outer Rim territories, some of them time sensitive, that was all for naught.

Those battles were intended to whittle down Jedi in the field, and spread them out further. But the landing craft lost in that fleet were a vital part of that, and the space fleet was just supposed to help it. That offensive was going to have to be curtailed heavily in the short term.

The fact that if the wookiees salvaged the fleet, and used it to protect their planet it would greatly increase the defenses of their homeworld was almost an afterthought, but one that still bothered Palpatine a great deal. It would make his plans to later conquer their people, enslave them, and then work them to the bone on his pet projects all the more difficult.

The overgrown dogs were being remarkably uncooperative, even for them. They refused to share how their defenses repelled the landing party. Palpatine knew little more even from the report in the Jedi Council, but it was irritating none the less. The one silver lining was that the Wookiees were also telling the Jedi Council the same thing, essentially shutting them both out.

Palpatine scowled as he tapped his fingers on his chair. Despite the report from the Jedi Master Ti giving him some idea of what this Harry Potter person did to his army, he was no closer to unraveling the overall mystery.

Palpatine grimaced and shifted uncomfortably in his chair. He was moving rather carefully to hide the fact that he was utilizing a bacta patch. He had been practicing the abilities that the subhuman Jedi Master had observed this Potter perform and had shared with to the Jedi Council. He had attempted to teleport from his hidden practice room to his private quarters and had been a little bit distracted by hurrying to a meeting he had already been late for. In the process he had apparently left a little bit of himself behind.

Now he had a bacta patch on the back of his upper thigh. It made sitting down more than a little uncomfortable

While he was still going to explore these fantastic abilities, he obviously had to be far more cautious. He had to figure out the ins and outs of the surging chaotic power that the Force had now transcended into. Clearly there was only one viable source of information for this.

Harry Potter had moved to the top of Palpatine's priority list. Not long ago a terse message to his apprentice made that change quite clear. Palpatine wanted him, not just because of the interference in his plans. Those were minor setbacks at best. No, Palpatine wanted this elusive man's _secrets. _How he knew and learned about the Force and what other delightful things he could do.

And the reigning Dark Lord of the Sith would have them one way or another.

If he could force this Harry Potter to serve him, then he would. He didn't know much about the man. But what he did know indicated it might not even be that challenging if the impressions Skywalker had relayed were accurate, in that the man was not much of a fan of the Jedi. Though perhaps manipulating him as the Chancellor might work as well. He was supposedly a bounty hunter. That sort of scum was always driven by money.

Being the most powerful man in the galaxy did have its perks. Certainly the man would not refuse the head of the government when given enough financial incentive. Palpatine was unmatched at twisting people to his ends, and Potter would no doubt prove to be no different. It would merely require finding out his background and what motivated the maverick.

If not, well then he would simply have to break the man and wring his secrets from his head no matter what steps he had to take.

Then the Jedi would have no chance. When he mastered these skills, Palpatine could singlehandedly destroy them. Taking all his secrets and combining them with his own unmatched power, he would be unstoppable and unquestionably the most powerful Sith Lord in History.

No, Palpatine mused, he would be the most powerful _person_ in history.

Palpatine looked up as his door chimed, signaling the arrival of his next meeting. Putting on his genial smile and the mask of the strong but caring Chancellor once more, he prepared to greet his next guests, being careful to hide any grimace of temporary pain felt from his earlier accident.

**oOoOooOoOOoOooOoOo**

Harry let out an audible sigh as he pushed open the door... or rather what little remained of it. Given his current mood he was almost unsurprised to find something amiss.

He had spent the last few days on the remainder of the trip to Nar Shaddaa searching through the few books he had present on the ship for ideas as a solution to the Jedi's problems. Ultimately, he had been spectacularly unsuccessful in the effort. In his defense, it wasn't like he had found many references to instances of others messing with someone else's use of magic. The only real references was research into how magic, light or dark, could have different effects on a user. A topic he was already, unfortunately, very familiar with.

The fact that he had spent part of the time in the company of the Sorting Hat, which had seemed to split its time between 'helping' him and actually aiding Ahsoka instruct the Jedi, in occlumency. He had it on good authority that the two older women knew how to clear their minds to a spectacular degree, but the idea of focusing internally on sorting their memories, and confronting them was far more haunting for the two older women. Not only had both lived through far more harrowing experiences in their lives, but actually reliving the memories and the accompanying emotions went against years of training. It was no surprise the two Jedi were struggling with it.

No, what really irritated him was a possibility the Hat had raised the night before. It had verbally wondered if, in order to have something so widespread, and so able to affect so many, whether it was possibly being done through some sort of soul magic, although it had admitted in the same sentence that the idea was pure conjecture and not base at all upon any sort of verifiable fact.

While certainly unlikely, the idea had made a strange sort of sense to Harry, as being able to impact a person's very being, without them being truly aware of it would certainly be consistent with what he was encountering. For lack of better terms… it was some kind of Soul Pollution… Rather scarily, on a galactic scale.

For so many reasons, that possibility did not excite him. Not one bit. Not at all.

Their ship arrived at Nar Shaddaa the next morning. Their landing at a docking bay occurred without being accosted, but only because of an offhand comment Ahsoka had made about smarter bounty hunters targeting their ship specifically, given its unique coloring. Thankfully Dobby had not taken long to change the hull coloring, even if the method utilized would only be temporary.

His desire to change it to the colors of the long defunct Holyhead Harpies of dark purple and teal was ignored by Ahsoka, who told Dobby to go with a plain unassuming grey. The little bugger had listened to her instantly, even going beyond her expectations due to an offhand comment about conjuring random bits of non-functional machinery that leaked energy to stick to the hull to change the ship's profile that may be in some of the searcher's systems.

Sometimes he felt so unloved.

Topping it off, the apparently galaxy-wide problem facing the Jedi, which he had been unable to make headway on, and the possibility of someone messing with soul magic on that scale, he now had a very plain and normal looking starship at the moment.

He wasn't really sure which issue was more irritating to him.

He had been prepared to put down his foot in any argument and not allow the entire entourage to follow him around on Nar Shaddaa, only to find that both Aayla and Shaak Ti were doggedly working on their Occlumency and actually planned to stay in at the moment. That left him without any reasonable argument to leave Ahsoka behind with them.

He could almost feel the universe chuckle at his expense.

They had met up with the mechanic that the slicer's message had directed them towards. He had nervously given the location but then had refused to say anything else, practically fleeing their presence.

Which lead the group to their current location. They were in a district of Nar Shaddaa that Harry had never previously visited. It wasn't exactly hospitable or comfortable, which while not atypical of the various locales on this moon, it was actually beyond the pale in this particular spot. In fact it looked like a large battle had occurred over the area sometime in the distant past, given that there were wreckage of buildings and still partially gutted remains of several small and at least one medium sized starship in the area. Scorch marks and small craters dotted the ruined and standing buildings alike, adding to the war torn nature of the locale.

They were standing in front of a cleverly hidden door in the side of what appeared to be nothing more than a large pile of rubble. At least that was what it formerly was. Now, the remains of the door were in pieces with only a single edge still attached to a hinge.

"This… was slashed with a lightsaber…" Ahsoka commented quietly, as she examined the hanging piece of door.

Ahsoka was obscured in a grey cloak over a dark bodysuit Harry had given her. She was alternating between looking at the entrance and around carefully. She had a foreboding feeling that was familiar, but restrained from saying anything about it as Harry seemed to be intent as he peered past the door.

Harry didn't reply to Ahsoka's comment pushing into the area, his lips set in a grim line. The doorway led to a small hallway that was dark though had a flickering light in random places so it wasn't pitch black. The first few feet was carefully piled rubble, but it abruptly transitioned to a hallway reminiscent of an apartment corridor, although it was far too dark for Ahsoka to discern more detail.

She removed a mini glow rod from her belt, but the movement must have attracted Harry's attention because he held out a hand and a glowing ball of light appeared with a small surge of his magic.

The ball of light floated into the corridor illuminating it all for them. Ahsoka's experienced eyes took in the surroundings quickly. There were clear signs of battle everywhere. There were black marks scattering over the walls and the remains of several droids of different models scattered across the floor.

Harry clearly didn't feel the need to comment as he stepped forward once more.

They walked to the end of the hallway and found themselves staring at the remains of a partially melted blast door.

"Melted. Again, probably by a lightsaber." Ahsoka commented. While there were a few other things could melt blast doors, there was no sign of concentrated explosive charges, and very rarely did people carry around industrial size metal shearing tools with plasma blades.

Harry just shook his head and stepped over the threshold to the room beyond.

The room wasn't much different than the corridor. It was large and circular, and had probably once been a comfortable apartment. However now it was hard to tell. The entire room looked like it had been repurposed… and then had been torn to shreds.

There were large display units lying in pieces everywhere. Ahsoka noted pieces of at least two holographic projectors, and other pieces of computers, along with accompanying furniture, and all of it was shattered and sliced into pieces.

Other than the complete destruction of the room, it had one door leading out of it to their left. A quick glance inside made it easy to tell that it was to a refresher station.

Harry had also stopped to survey the room. He noted that there was still the occasional spark from one of the pieces of electronics on the floor, a sure indication that the destruction had occurred relatively recently. His eyes moved along the floor and then narrowed at a suspicious looking pile of rubble. He moved almost unwaveringly toward the middle of the room, putting a bit more power into his floating lumos, allowing it to better illuminate the room. He could see in the dark, but didn't want to miss the details on anything.

He knelt down next to the pile of rubble and pushed the large piece of one of the monitors out of the way. Underneath it was a body, and though the body was still partially wearing the dark and concealing clothing that had been so effective in obscuring the identity when they had met in the bar, the mask no longer covered the being's head, revealing her to have mammalian features, it only took Harry a moment to recognize her as a female Selonian.

Ahsoka put her hand to her mouth. The Selonian was missing an arm and a significant portion of her chest. She was clearly dead.

Harry crouched in front of the figure and sighed, "It's our slicer."

"How can you tell?" Ahsoka asked, looking around so she wasn't just staring at the corpse in front of them. She turned her attention to Harry, and through their bond, she could feel genuine regret coming from him.

Harry glanced up at her with a resigned expression. He wished he could claim that he was surprised, but he couldn't even fool himself. However he did answer Ahsoka's question, "Because she carries the traces of my magic, something I'm relatively attuned to. It's faint, and after another week or so I wouldn't be able to tell. But it's still soon enough after using a calming charm on her, so my magic hasn't completely faded yet. It hadn't been influencing her for weeks, but the touch of it was still there."

He reached down and placed a hand on the head of the unmoving figure. His eyes closed as he let out a frustrated sigh. Based on the condition of the body, she hadn't been dead more than a few hours.

Ahsoka frowned as she felt his emotions, and suddenly felt the sharp sensation of guilt, overwhelming and familiar guilt that emanated from Harry for a few brief moments before he ruthlessly buried the feeling. Her eyes narrowed as she regarded him and made a mental note to talk to him about that later.

"This doesn't make sense…" Harry finally admitted quietly, the confusion evident in his voice.

"She must have found something someone obviously didn't want her to know." Ahsoka commented.

Harry nodded and frowned looking around, "Yes, but what would provoke this type of response? All I really wanted her looking for was historical records. I can't think that anything would have warranted this sort of response. Especially from the Jedi."

Ahsoka glanced at Harry sharply, "This was not a Jedi, this had to be a Sith."

Harry bowed his head slightly in wordless apology. He was distracted, but took the remonstration for what it was. He hadn't been trying to imply anything. He looked around at the remains scattered all around them as if they would have the answer

"Any information she might have left was probably destroyed with those computers," Ahsoka commented in frustration as she poked around the room, for any sign of something that might have survived the complete destruction of the room. "If she had any information stored off-site, there's no way for us to realistically track it now."

Harry glanced at her with a halfhearted smile, and then stood up slowly. "I wouldn't go that far." He turned and with a look of concentration slowly gestured with both hands toward one area of the room.

Ahsoka watched as the monitor and pieces in that area began to move. Scorch and burn marks began to disappear. The pieces began to lift and move, and fit back together as if it were an enormous jigsaw puzzle.

Harry spread his arms slowly, as the repairs continued, pieces occasionally jumping around the room as he did.

Ahsoka could feel the magic in the air, but a glance at Harry arrested her attention. His face was set in a look of supreme concentration, sweat was starting to bead on his face. She frowned, he seemed to be struggling with this more than he had been when he had called the fire from the sky and decimated an entire invasion force.

When he had finished the room was left completely repaired, monitors were all on and showed the computer systems starting up. The only spot that was really untouched was the dead body in the middle of the room.

Harry groaned and rubbed the sides of his temples as he took a steadying breath.

"Are you okay Harry?" Ahsoka asked with some concern, moving over to look at him closely.

He smiled wanly at her as he ran a hand through his hair, "Sorry, that was a repair charm where I'm also conjuring materials that had been vaporized and making magic determine the replacements. It's a more difficult than most other things I normally do, especially on something as intricate as computer systems, so I don't fry them. Takes a bit of power and a bucket full of concentration."

He moved forward in front of what he quickly determined was the central monitor, as it was the only one requiring a password, the rest remained powered on but the screens remained blank, "Fan-fucking-tastic," he muttered.

Ahsoka shook her head slightly as she moved forward, "We could try to get it to your ship, but if she was even a better than average slicer, her system will be set up to auto erase if we use a computer to force our way in…"

"I know… and we only get one try." Harry murmured at the symbols on the screen, "Though… it might be moot… since it looks like someone already tried."

Ahsoka winced, "Then there may not be anything left on the archive here."

Harry nodded a little bit, still staring at the screen.

While Harry focused on what Ahsoka felt would be a futile effort, she glanced mournfully down at the body beside her. "It would be nice if you could come and tell us what we needed to know," she remarked to the dead body, attempting a weak joke despite the circumstances.

"The one that found me here tried to break the encryption," a female voice spoke out of nowhere. "She was not happy at my initial refusal. She took a password from my mind."

Ahsoka gasped out loud as she whirled, her lightsaber in her hand as she instinctively assumed a defensive stance. She even almost tripped over a piece of debris on the floor as she whirled. Harry also turned quickly at the sudden voice.

There, hazy and indistinct but still easily recognizable, was the spirit of the slicer standing next to her own dead body

"I didn't summon you…" Harry said slowly, a sinking feeling coalescing in his stomach.

Ahsoka looked back and forth between the spirit standing there and Harry who only looked surprised not completely blown away and flabbergasted, which she knew was the expression on her own face.

The spirit shook her head slowly and seemed to regard for a moment before she spoke.

"No, she did." answered the translucent figure answered pointing a clawed finger at her on arms that seemed proportionally smaller on the female Selonian's ghostly body.

"And how did Ahsoka do that?" he asked slowly.

"The same way you have always done," the dead woman's voice responded matter of factly.

Harry grimaced and ran a hand through his hair. "That doesn't really answer my question."

"You are Death's Master and she is your Apprentice," the spirit answered the question as if it were an obvious fact.

Harry's eyes widened and then his eyes flickered to Ahsoka, his expression part shock but a shock that quickly fizzled into resignation.

"Harry...?" Ahsoka asked quietly

He put two fingers to his forehead and rubbed his temple slowly. "Yeah. This right here… is pretty much a textbook example of the Potter addendum to Murphy's law."

He looked at the ghost, "I don't suppose you could tell us exactly what that entails could you?"

"I cannot," the ghost answered shortly, a trace of amusement in her voice.

"Of course," Harry muttered and ran a hand through his hair once more. He managed a weak smile at Ahsoka. "Welcome to my life?'

"Harry…" Ahsoka repeated, this time it was not a question, it was a demand for more information.

Harry sighed and waved a hand, instinctively killing any bugs or anything that might listen in, "I told you the story of becoming Master of Death. Or at least outlined how it happened. I long ago learned the title is more literal than I initially realized."

He slumped a little bit, "Apparently… The fact that you are my apprentice is another title which turned out to be a bit more literal than I anticipated."

"So what does this mean?" Ahsoka asked.

"Fucked if I know, sweetheart." Harry replied. "I never got an instruction manual. And no one who has passed over is able to tell me more."

"And Death sure as hell has never made an appearance to tell me. I kind of determined on my home world that it involved making sure people didn't mess around with souls, by either mutilating theirs, someone else's, or doing anything that might blur the line between death and life."

Harry shrugged a bit, "As far as I know the ability to summon spirits to talk for short periods, without violating that life and death barrier, and forcing spirits to move on were the only perks of the title."

He looked pensive, as a thought occurred to him, "Though as I explained, it might also be responsible for my… lifespan. I'm not sure."

That thought drew a frown from him, wondering how it applied to Ahsoka. "If the Sorting Hat doesn't have any insight, I… think I'm going to have to dig out some portraits I'd really rather not talk to and try and get their insight into this whole apprentice thing."

He winced, knowing there was only one portrait he might have that had extensive knowledge of the Hallows as well as how a master-apprentice bond worked. One he certainly never brought out to chat in the past on a mere whim.

"We'll have to figure out what this means. Until we do, just do me a favor… don't wish for anyone to come back from the dead." He grimaced at the thought but then caught her eyes to let her know exactly how serious he was about the comment.

Ahsoka's brow furrowed as she considered what Harry had just said, but her attention was drawn to the ghost who remained hovering there. "Does… it hurt her? To pull her back from becoming one with the Force like that?"

Harry shook his head, "Not really, provided it doesn't last too long. Even then, with a spirit summoned over the course of years, major problem really will only be their grasp on sanity and reality."

"So… is it alright to ask her for her password? Or is that something she can't tell us?" Ahsoka asked hesitantly.

Harry smiled a bit and gestured, "She's right there. You can ask her. If its knowledge they had before or as they died they can share… Provided someone who is living isn't guarding it as a secret. If that's the case, very rarely can they share."

"What?' Ahsoka asked her expression twisting at that last comment.

Harry shrugged, "Don't look at me, I don't make the rules of life and death. I always thought the Master of Death title had been mis-translated from 'Death's bitch'. But I think that might compete too much with my acknowledged position of 'Fate's bitch'."

Ahsoka hesitated, and rather than digging more into that, turned to look back at the Selonian ghost who was examining her own dead body. "Will you tell us what happened?"

The Selonian huffed slightly, "I assume you got my message which is why you're here… albeit late."

"I'm… sorry?" Ahsoka ventured,

"Sorry doesn't do me any good now, does it?" The Selonian asked, her tone holding a trace of bitter accusation.

"Hey," Harry cut in sharply. "If you have to blame someone other than the people that killed you, pick me. If it was my search that got you killed then it was my fault. Or you can blame me for the delay that got me here after you had crossed over. _She_ has done nothing to you."

"You do not avoid responsibility for causing death. Interesting." The Selonian regarded Harry's gaze blankly for a moment before bowing in acknowledgement and then continuing as if nothing had happened "I did do the search on the information you asked. And I turned up a reference to the name you highlighted above all. It was an older file. Nearly three decades old and among a long list of dead end directories that themselves were dated back more than a century."

"However I started digging and accessed some very old private servers. Someone had encrypted the directories I had been looking for repeatedly. Then tried to scrub the system down. Repeatedly" The spirit explained, before her voice took on a slightly smug tone, "They were good, for their time... but I was better."

Ahsoka felt that the smug tone was an odd contrast to the fact that the slicer was dead. She had never given much thought to what spirits were like, though she had obviously heard of the apparitions through the Order history. Those were all tied into Sith Lords or Jedi Masters of astounding power. Not, presumably, to Force-blind slicers.

"The name was given a number designation and then tied into some weird files under the heading Origination, but those were all fragmentary. However it lead me to shipping and transfer orders someone attempted to erase as well. But those sort of things always leave trails if you know where to look."

"I started digging and had to cast my net wide in tracking the shipping orders through subsidiary and tertiary databases and companies. I had just finished putting together the files with some odd facts that I hadn't a chance to begin untangling before I detected a trace on my signal. I tried every trick I knew but they somehow were still able to track me. They were good." The specter shook her head slowly.

"Next thing I knew, my background searches pick up there's a bounty out for my slicer name and location." The ghost fixed Harry with a stare. "I sent you my message here and thought I was safe at least relatively."

"I should have known not to get involved with anything to do with the Jedi." Her tone resigned as she looked back and forth between Harry and Ahsoka.

"Then what happened?" Harry asked, his tone firm without lingering on the slicer's comment.

"The Jedi tracked me here. I don't know how she found me. The first I was aware that she was on my trail she had already broken in and gone through my droid defenses like they were nothing." The slicer shook her head as she looked out into the damaged hallway. "That blast door cost me almost ten thousand credits, and it held her for all of thirty seconds."

"Who was it?" Ahsoka asked cautiously.

"We were hardly on a first name basis, Jedi." the slicer replied dryly.

"Could you describe her?" Ahsoka clarified with a faint narrowing of her eyes. She also wondered if it was her imagination or if the being was beginning to waver slightly.

"Female. Humanoid. Bald. Markings on her face," was the succinct reply from the shade.

"Ventress…" Ahsoka said slowly, with a frown on her face. She hadn't seen or heard from the woman since they had teamed up on Coruscant while she was a fugitive.

"She… forced me to give up a password to my system," the ghost spoke slowly.

"She tortured you?" Ahsoka asked, her eyes widened, that didn't sound anything like the new life that Ventress had claimed she was trying to turn over.

The slicer shook her head. "No… she could… pull things from my mind, without touching me."

A slow grin crossed the slicer's ghostly face. "She pulled the password she saw from my head… But it wasn't the right password. It let her into a fake system, and locked down the real one."

The ghosts grin faded, "She hadn't had time to do more than enter that password when those others showed up."

"Others?" Harry asked with a raised brow.

"Yes, the other Jedi. She didn't even know they were here until one stabbed me through the chest… and I died." The spirit said the last bit with obvious relish. Its tone threw Ahsoka since she seemed less than pleased about everything else.

Harry, having more experience with spirits just rolled his eyes. He was used to spirits enjoying telling about the moment they died, with the more morbid deaths being the more exciting.

"Who were they?' Ahsoka asked, jarred by how she related the facts of her death.

"I don't know. I was facing the door when they came in. Two men. Both large, physically fit. Both were cloaked, but I could have sworn that one of them had horns." The spirit spread her hands, "I saw them step in the room and I didn't even think to say anything, and one barely glanced at me before he ignited his lightsaber right through my chest."

"And… I died." the spirit said once more with what could almost be considered fondness.

Ahsoka glanced at Harry who shrugged before turning his attention back to the spirit.

"Where is the information you found?' Harry asked, "Will you give me your password and show them to me?"

The spirit regarded him before it nodded slowly. She floated over toward the keyboard that Harry had examined a bit earlier. Harry followed her and the spirit began pointing at keys one after another, showing Harry which keys to enter.

A few moments later, the monitors all activated showing a large number of different read outs in what appeared to be a large confusing mess. However the slicer seemed to have no problem showing Harry the files and how to make a copy.

Harry had no problem following the spirit's instructions quickly downloaded the files, as well as another group of files the spirit suggested might be interesting at some point. He put it all on a data card and secured it in his pocket. Then, with additional directions from the slicer, Harry entered another code which began to shut down the system, monitor by monitor going dark as the data he had collected erased itself. The spirit seemed pleased Harry had taken time to do that.

Harry turned to regard the ghost with a somber expression. "For what it's worth. I'm sorry. Is there someplace or someone you'd like to receive the money you were owed?"

"You… would still pay even though I am dead?" The ghost asked, a trace of disbelief in her voice.

"Of course." Harry responded. "We had a deal, and you upheld your end of the bargain. I will uphold mine."

The spirit regarded him before nodding slowly. "I don't have a husband or children. I was infertile, like so many of my kind. But I… would like you to send the money to my sept and my family den, their name is the first in the extra files I had you copy, along with a message to be sent in the event of my death."

"Tell me your name, so I can let them know who it's from." Harry said, looking up at the spirit.

The slicer shook her head slightly, "They'll know."

"Thank you," the spirit added after a few moment's pause. It hung there for a moment before seeming to sense that it was done as it began to fade away.

"It wasn't Jedi that killed you!" Ahsoka blurted out to the spirit quickly as she faded, "It was the Sith."

The spirit hesitated as it regarded her before responding with a shrug, "Does it really matter? Jedi. Sith. Smugglers. Soldiers. Droids. Clones. The result is the same. It is the way of life to end sooner or later. Mine just came sooner than I wished."

There was no accusation in her tone, just a statement.

Finally, the not-quite spectre then faded out completely, leaving Ahsoka to stare at the place it had been, her mind now a thousand light years from the dingy, destroyed apartment her body was in.

**oOooOoOoOoOoOooOo**

After the acquisition of the data, there was no longer any reason for the pair to linger within the slicer's hideout. However, after they had left the room where her body rested, Harry used magic and collapsed the walls of the corridor. It created a tomb for the slicer, one that was unlikely to be disturbed by anyone for a very long time considering the general state of things upon the crime-ridden world.

The Master and his Apprentice began their journey directly back to the ship, although it was at a walking pace. People in a hurry attracted attention on a world such as this, so they wished to avoid further attention towards themselves. This, combined with the rubble strewn area, meant their progress was slow and that they weren't making very good time in Ahsoka's opinion. Ahsoka soon found herself leading the duo, as Harry barely seemed to be cognizant of their surroundings. He was reading the first few files of information that he'd received from the slicer on his data pad, and that seemed to be all he was capable of doing at the moment beyond putting one foot in front of the other...

Ahsoka was reminded quickly that he wasn't really paying attention to their surroundings. Although thankfully it didn't seem to the extent that she had to be concerned for him accidentally tripping or stepping off a crosswalk a few kilometers above the depths of Nar Shaddaa.

No, it mostly had to do with the fact that she had twice asked him if the slicer had really unearthed something interesting, and Harry had merely responded with an absent sounding, "Hmm?" Each time he would turn back to the data pad's contents and Ahsoka would be left unanswered.

She hadn't asked him anything in over a quarter of an hour though, focusing enough on their surroundings for the both of them. Ahsoka had her hood up and was constantly kept a wary watch around them as they walked. She had this feeling that they were being followed. It wasn't a new feeling. In fact... it was a sense of unease that had been with her since they had left Kashyyyk.

That ominous foreboding had slowly increased since the moment they left the slicer's hideout but since she couldn't put her finger on it, she hadn't said anything. Instead she kept looking around for any hint of any sort of tail.

Ahsoka not only had the sense of being followed, but she felt a rising feeling of danger with each step. Unfortunately, she couldn't pinpoint where it was coming from, and that was just adding the sense of foreboding rising within her. She kept looking to Harry to check for any hint that he might have been getting the same impression, but he seemed completely focused on the data pad. Ahsoka tried to convince herself that meant she was just imagining things but trusted her instincts too much to buy it.

They were just approaching the last leg of their journey to the docking bay where the ship was berthed, and Ahsoka had turned to get Harry's attention when it looked like he might walk right past the pathway, when it happened.

She felt the Force suddenly scream in her ear, telling her danger was absolutely right on top of her. Reacting with reflexes born of years of warfare, she instinctively threw herself at Harry in a tackle, knocking both of them headlong along the path toward the docking bay door. Just as she made impact, there was the loud sound of a snap hiss and the whine of a lightsaber slashing through the air.

Air they were just a split-second from walking through.

Harry grunted in surprise, letting out an incredulous "What the -" as he was knocked forward by Ahsoka, throwing out his free hand to break his fall but failing to raise it in time, not having expected the sudden weight pushed against him.

Ahsoka felt a surge of magic from Harry, although she didn't see any result, but any desire she had to see what crazy use of the Force he had managed this time had to wait. Her focus had to be in the here and now upon whatever obviously wanted her dead this time. She turned the tackle into a roll and was rapidly back on her feet.

Her hands had reacted instinctively, her newly constructed lightsabers appearing in her hands and igniting, just in time to catch up follow up slashes with the loud hissing of the impact of two foreign blades on her own. Two crimson lightsabers thrusting forward were caught with her own pale yellow lightsabers, creating a loud static and hissing sound.

However as her lightsabers held, she found herself staring at the face not far from hers that seemed as surprised to see her as she was to see Ahsoka.

"Ventress!" Ahsoka exclaimed as she found herself face to face with her attacker. The woman looked almost exactly the same as the last time she had seen her. Though there was something slightly different in her expression that Ahsoka couldn't immediately place.

Ventress' eyes widened for only a moment before she recovered from her surprise. Promptly regaining her senses, she spun away from their locked lightsabers, slashing from above and then both sides quickly to aid her attempt to disengage.

Ahsoka blocked both attacks and responded with a slash of her own lightsaber causing Ventress to jump back to avoid the strike.

"Ahsoka Tano!" Ventress shook her head as she slowly moved to the side, lightsabers held prepared for another strike as she watched her cautiously. "Give me the information you found, and I'll let you walk away."

"Why?" Ahsoka demanded, her movements still cautious and held up in a more defensive stance. She sensed Harry back on his feet and moving to the side to step up and join her.

"My Master demands it," Ventress answered, scowling as her eyes flashed dangerously as they flicked over Ahsoka's shoulder and back to her.

"I thought you were leaving them, trying to be a new you!" Ahsoka demanded, her last conversations with Ventress ringing through her mind and playing at odds with what she was hearing right now.

"There is no escape from the Sith." Ventress replied, bitterness in her voice as she watched Ahsoka for the slightest hint of an opening to strike at her. The man slightly behind her was clearly not a Jedi from his dress and therefore clearly not a threat in her mind.

Ahsoka trying to understand why she felt quite so surprised by this sudden shift back to being enemies. On one hand, she realized it shouldn't be that big a shock given that deception was one of the Sith's strongest weapons and core tenants. But Ahsoka vividly remembered their conversation about their mutual betrayals and how Ventress was trying to earn a pardon when she had lent Ahsoka aid while she was initially on the run from military justice. She had thought she had been able to sense the truth in the woman's words then and now wondered what happened In the intervening time to have driven her back into her Master's service.

"Last time we fought I was trying to keep you alive and in one piece. I won't be so generous this time," spoke Ventress, her voice going flat with a trace of resignation to it. She knew Ahsoka wasn't going to back down. She knew the former Jedi Padawan too well for that.

Ahsoka regarded the other woman, and read the determination on her face, as well as the anger. But both of those were to be expected.

However, the resignation she sensed, that was new. Ahsoka was trying to figure out what to make of it.

Harry stepped up beside Ahsoka, though left enough room between them that his presence wouldn't hinder her movement with the lightsaber in that hand, whether she was attacking or defending.

"Friend of yours?" He asked Ahsoka.

"Give me the datapad." Ventress demanded of Harry, "And I won't kill you."

"Seems like someone is in desperate need of a lesson in manners," Harry said in response and moved to step forward only to stop as Ahsoka's blade shifted outward to cut his path off and stop him from getting any closer to Ventress.

He turned to look at her with a raised eyebrow. The fact that there was a blade of superheated plasma in close proximity to his crotch certainly got his attention.

"This is my fight, Harry," Ahsoka stated bluntly, with only the barest hint of request in the statement.

Then her tone softened though she didn't remove her gaze from Ventress, "Please… Master… I need to do this." It was one of the rare times there was no teasing or mocking in her tone, merely a slight plea.

That comment caused Ventress' eyes to widen slightly and flick between Ahsoka and Harry uncertainly. She had dismissed him as a Force-Blind and even now she couldn't sense much Force presence in him. Oddly enough though now that she was looking she could sense a connection between Ahsoka and the human, clear as day. _"How interesting…"_

Harry ignored Ventress' curious look and regarded Ahsoka for a moment. The determination in her emotions was easily read, and he pondered it briefly before he nodded slightly and crossed his arms, stepping back "Very well."

Ahsoka managed to only blink in surprise, not to turn and look at him in surprise. She didn't think Anakin would have let her do that. She could also sense from Harry that it wasn't something he was apathetic about. His emotions made it clear that there was some major reluctance there.

"I had heard you'd left the crippled and drifting ship that is the Order soon after we parted ways," Ventress said with a sneer, as her eyes continued to flicker back and forth between Ahsoka and Harry. "How is it that you are now calling someone else Master? Did you miss being told what to think and feel? Or rather what not to feel?"

Ahsoka opened her mouth to reply but Ventress determined that Harry either wasn't going to interfere or wasn't a threat and chose that moment to pounce. She struck with lightning speed and began a furious assault that had Ahsoka backing up on her heels, though she managed to parry the blows coming down on her.

Ventress kept up the unrelenting assault on Ahsoka and backed her up toward the wall of the docking bay buildings. Ahsoka was forced to leap over her opponent or be forced to end up pinned there.

Harry was rather impressed that she managed to discard the cloak she had been wearing that obscured her identity, while in mid-leap, leaving it to flutter to the ground. It left her in the armor he had provided her on Kashyyyk. He was doubly impressed that the movement was so fluid and that she didn't even need to turn off her lightsabers, merely briefly switching hands as she landed. Though she was forced to spin around quickly and just barely managed to deflect the rapid fire assault once more.

There was a joke hidden in there somewhere, that he should be complimenting her on disrobing under duress, but felt like he should likely keep his mouth shut for the time being. He made a mental note to save it for Aayla anyways.

Harry's thoughts were interrupted when the human-sized door to the docking bay opened and Aayla and Shaak Ti both rushed out.

"Ventress!" Aayla shouted, Shaak Ti seemed to recognize the attacker as well, but said nothing as she ran forward alongside Aayla, both igniting their lightsabers as they sprinted towards the fighting duo.

Ahsoka, seeing them approaching, disengaged her movements, allowing her some breathing room for a moment. She maintained a defensive position, and kept herself between the approaching two Jedi and her opponent while she said loud enough for all to hear, "This is my fight!"

"Let her do this," said Harry as he also quickly stepped between Ahsoka and her opponent and the two Jedi.

Given the fact that there were lit lightsabers on all sides of him Ventress couldn't help a raised eyebrow at his audacity, given that he still didn't show a Force presence like those around him.

"Why? This woman is dangerous!" retorted Shaak Ti, her eyes never leaving the now silent Sith across from them.

"Yes, but she also has something over my Apprentice," responded Harry, his tone calm despite the tension of the situation. "I obviously don't know the story here, but that woman holds power over Ahsoka, at least in her mind. She won't gain that back until she faces this. Alone."

"This is not the Jedi way to leave an ally alone at a time like this," Aayla responded, her eyes watching Ventress while her body hunkered low in a position ready to leap at the other woman.

Despite her focus on Ventress and her wariness that the other woman would renew her assault at any moment, there were a million things Ahsoka wanted to say about abandoning comrades and her experience while being framed after that remark from Aayla, but Harry beat her to it and for once it did not include mocking.

"But it's also the Jedi way to face your fears, is it not?" Harry questioned dryly, before he turned back to the women before him, "Although something tells me this is a bit more than facing fears. More than ego is at stake here."

Ventress seemed to take the lack of interference from Aayla and Shaak Ti as an invitation and renewed her attack upon Ahsoka.

Ahsoka's blades met Ventress as they clashed. She brought both her blades down on Ahsoka, from above, but Ahsoka crouched and lashed out with her foot catching Ventress' leg and causing her to hop back awkwardly though she quickly regained her footing.

"This isn't right." Aayla said, her eyes focused on the fight. "Not when we are here to help. One mistake could mean Ahsoka's death."

Harry didn't say anything, he merely shifted slightly, prepared to stun either Jedi, or both if they went against Ahsoka's wishes, although the majority of his focus was on the battle in front of them. As he watched Ahsoka exchanged blows with the other woman, he wasn't letting any sign of it show on his face, but it was fighting the majority of his instincts not to interfere here as well.

He found himself worried about Ahsoka, despite the display she was putting on. He wasn't worried about her ability… He was just plain worried for her. Worried he might lose her. That was a bit of a jarring thought as the idea coursed through his mind like a lightning bolt.

All the vague acknowledgements and side notes in the manuscripts he had found on the apprentice-bond became all the more real, as the discussions about how easily Master and Apprentice became close, whether in the familial sense or as lovers, suddenly became infinitely more relevant at the moment while Ahsoka was fighting for her life in front of him.

Ventress made an extremely complicated acrobatic leap over a slash from Ahsoka that pushed all thoughts of the young woman as a potential love interest out of his mind. Ventress aimed at his Apprentice's legs with her next movement, and then parried a higher slash, while Ahsoka dodged the downward stab from one of the red lightsabers and rolled forward and then pushed off the ground with her hand just in time to avoid a low swipe from Ventress' blade that nearly took off the tips of her montrals.

Ahsoka spun away and disengaged once again from her attacker, or at least she attempted to. This time, Ventress didn't seem to desire a break, and kept up the attack, not allowing Ahsoka the chance to reset or stance or get any sort of breather in the engagement.

Ahsoka was able to fight and retreat successfully, and to her surprise, found that it seemed she was moving faster, or Ventress was moving slightly slower than the last time they met. Unlike their previous bout, Ahsoka wasn't frantically struggling to match the far more experienced Sith Assassin blow for blow, and her movements felt far more confident and precise than they had in the past.

However as much as she was engaged in the battle, and could feel the Force… No, Magic moving through her. She was also trying to figure out what had changed so drastically to give her this advantage.

She trusted Harry to let her fight this battle without interference, so she knew he hadn't done something to affect either of them. While she had heard the arrival of the two older Jedi, and had taken time to make it clear that this was her fight, she hadn't paid them any more mind. She trusted her Master to keep them out of it. It gave her the time and focus she needed to concentrate her attention on figuring out what Ventress was doing, which seemed to be just as difficult to determine as the actual physical fight she was engaged in with the woman.

Despite their previous temporary alliance, Ahsoka would never truly consider herself friends with Ventress. How could she be? They had been on opposite sides for years during this conflict. But Ahsoka was honest enough with herself to admit that she had trusted Ventress during that time. When Ahsoka had been at her lowest, without any allies and with her prospects grim, this woman had helped her. Selfishly perhaps, but she had provided aid when almost no one else would.

They had both been intent on their goals. Ahsoka to clear her name and Ventress her pardon for a fresh start. Yet now she was back, apparently once more serving Dooku and the Sith.

That wasn't the only thing that was different. Ventress' attacks were always aggressive and powerful, but Ahsoka felt there was more. There was a recklessness in Ventress' movements during this fight that had not ever been present in their previous fights. She had studied Ventress' Style more than any other Sith, as the Jedi had attained far more documented evidence of her fighting style than Dooku or any of the other small time Sith Apprentices.

She felt she knew the woman's style more than almost any other opponent and the Assassin was taking more risk in her strikes and movements than was normal. It was as though she had forsaken any desire to protect herself from the possibility that Ahsoka could kill or cripple her.

But it was more than that; Ahsoka just couldn't understand Ventress' motivation. The other woman knew she was outnumbered, and no matter the outcome of this duel between the two of them, Ventress wasn't going to get anything she wanted.

The two battled back and forth, their swords clashing at frenetic speeds, moving in front of the docking bay entrance. Neither combatant seemed to want to go anywhere near the group of three observers, so the same distance was always maintained, as if staying away would prevent them from being enticed to join the fight against Ahsoka's wishes.

Then it happened.

Ahsoka spun under a slash that would have cleanly removed her head from her shoulders and blocked a downward stroke from the other lightsaber. At the same time she stabbed toward Ventress in a thrust designed to force her back.

However, rather than planting her feet and jumping back, Ventress had leapt forward. She saw the danger a split second late and attempted to twist, hoping to avoid the stabbing lightsaber, but her forward momentum betrayed her.

Ahsoka and Ventress both froze for a moment, just after the sound and smell of sizzling cauterized flesh filled the air. It was a moment Ahsoka would forever have laser etched into her memory. She was staring up into Ventress' grey eyes, eyes that were wide, matching her own.

Eyes that she belatedly realized were no longer a pure Sith yellow.

Both glanced downward, acknowledging the fact that Ahsoka's blade was buried into Ventress' exposed stomach. Ahsoka could see from her limited vantage point beneath Ventress, and was suddenly supporting the other woman's weight on her hands, as if her legs could no longer support her weight. Ahsoka could see the telltale glow of her pale yellow blade emerging from Ventress' back.

Ventress lurched backward, throwing her arms back in desperation, in the vain hope that the wound might not be as bad as she thought, and getting away would be beneficial. As if the movement might save her.

Or rather, she tried.

Her legs no longer seemed capable of obeying her commands, so Ventress just toppled back and to her side, incidentally doing more damage to her torso from Ahsoka's lightsaber before the Togruta could deactivate it.

Ventress lightsabers matched Ahsoka's deactivating involuntarily as she dropped both of them of them to the ground, her arms going around to her stomach protectively.

Ahsoka deactivated her still active saber, the one that hadn't impaled Ventress. She stared down at the other woman in disbelief before she fell to her knees and slid forward cautiously, unsure as to why she moved closer to Ventress but not willing to just stare down at her.

Ventress' coughed and looked up at Ahsoka's form and then shuddered, which was made all the more noticeable by the wheezing sound that escaped Ventress as her arms curled over the area of her stomach in a vain attempt to protect a midsection that was no longer all there.

A weak rasp suddenly drew Ahsoka's eyes to her fallen enemy, Ventress' once sultry, arrogant, and defiant tone now reduced to the barest of whispers. "Thank…you."

Out of the corner of her eye, Ahsoka saw both Shaak Ti and Aayla had moved forward. She could also sense Harry moving closer as well. Most of Ahsoka's attention was on Ventress as her breathing seemed to get heavier.

Ahsoka, could clearly see there wasn't likely to be much they could do. There was a hole in Ventress' stomach Ahsoka could put her fist through, and she was pretty sure part of the spine was gone as well.

"Why?" She asked Ventress, meeting the other woman's eyes. Inexplicably she felt herself getting upset. Not for what she had done but on behalf of the fate of the other woman. This wasn't right.

Ventress smiled slightly, the right side of her mouth barely showing teeth, but any effect she may have intended was ruined by the clear sign of blood covering her teeth, and her expression immediately folding into a grimace of pain as she wheezed, "Couldn't kill Dooku."

A wracking cough suddenly affected her, and blood flecked across her chin, "Not powerful enough."

"You were trying to start a new life!" Ahsoka protested, her hand resting on the woman's shoulder. "What happened?"

"His voice,"

"Constant,"

"Demanding,"

"They reached me anywhere. Orders. Commands. Can't hide, Can't shut-... Won't stop. Couldn't kill him to make them stop." Each expression was followed by a shudder of horror that was only partially attributed to the traumatic injury she had received.

As she visibly struggled to retain focus on Ahsoka, her voice suddenly firm as she continued, "No... Escape from the Sith. No matter what happens, how angry you get, don't let them get you like they got me."

"Why didn't you go to the Order?" Ahsoka asked, as she felt tears welling up in her eyes. She could sense the other woman fading and Ventress struggling mightily against it.

Ventress half gasped and closed her eyes in pain as she continued to speak, "Saw what they did to you. What chance did I have?"

Ahsoka bowed her head, as she looked in Ventress' eyes, tears running down her cheeks freely now. She saw Asajj move one of her arms up toward Ahsoka so Ahsoka reached out and grabbed her hand, causing Ventress to clench tightly at it.

Ventress breaths started to come in shorter gasps, "Thank you…" She repeated her earlier comment between gasps, "I would much rather die by the hand of a friend… than at Dooku's hands."

Ahsoka stared down at Ventress, as that remark sunk in she looked up, her eyes only briefly looking over the grim faces of Aayla and Shaak Ti before moving to Harry. Her tear filled eyes widened as a memory of the first time she met Harry occurred to her. "Master… Harry… Please. Can you help her?"

Harry frowned, ignoring the reactions of surprise on the faces of both Aayla and Shaak Ti. He wasn't sure what to say to that, as he could feel the torment Ahsoka was in and her own conflicted emotions regarding the woman, so the last thing he had expected was a plea to help the woman who had just been fighting her.

'"Please, she doesn't deserve this!" Ahsoka pleaded only a moment later after Harry didn't immediately respond.

"Why not?" Harry challenged, his tone curious. "She tried to kill me. She _just_ tried to kill you. Do you think she'd cry for you if you died?"

"I think she would… Now… Maybe.". Ahsoka said after some hesitation. She wasn't even sure Harry could help her, this was far more damage than a single blaster bolt to the chest. Then frustration rose in her voice. "I don't know. But I was there! She was telling me the truth. She tried to escape this. Tried to escape the Sith, tried to escape this war."

Ahsoka looked down in resignation as tears ran freely down her face, the woman's gasps coming in short jolts now. Judging by the woman's closed eyes and rattling breath, she didn't even think Ventress was conscious anymore.

She brushed her fingers along the woman's face gently, seeing no reaction to her touch. She spoke quietly, almost a eulogy for the woman, "She was the only one who actively stood by me. She defied the authorities and risked her life for me and didn't kill soldiers because I insisted. I owe her my life. She helped me! All the Jedi save for Sky-Guy abandoned me. They all thought I was guilty, and she, a former enemy, helped me!"

She looked down as she could feel Ventress slip farther and farther away, her grip slackening in her hands.

Suddenly, Harry was next to her on his knees.

He forcefully rolled the woman onto her back, a movement that encountered no resistance though Ahsoka looked up and caught Harry's eyes. What she saw there caused her own breath to hitch. His eyes were glowing emerald and practically flaring with power.

He placed his hands over the hole in Ventress' stomach,

"Master?" She asked tentatively, a wild flare of hope in her voice.

Harry's expression was grim as he met her eyes for a few moments before looking down, "Remember what I told you about life debts? You claim to owe her your life and as your Master your debts are mine."

Without waiting for a response he looked down at Ventress and forced his magic into the wound.

Ahsoka gasped as she felt the familiar magic he'd used so long ago in the bar on Coruscant wash over her once more. Only this time it was more powerful, more potent. Harry wasn't even trying to be subtle, this wound was so much more devastating than the blaster shot he'd healed on the bartender that had collapsed one of the woman's lungs.

Ahsoka dimly heard the breath of both Aayla and Shaak Ti hitch, and was certain they were feeling the power Harry was using. However Ahsoka's attention was drawn by something else.

Maybe it was her connection to him now Ahsoka thought. And she concentrated on that connection, trying to sense what Harry was doing, something she had never tried before. She felt his determination and the cold-forged durasteel of his will as he poured power into the dying woman. The concentration as he manipulated magics she didn't understand.

Then without warning she was sucked into the process. For a brief moment she felt fear, as she felt her consciousness separate from her body as she was suddenly seeing from Harry's perspective.

As she stared down at Ventress, she could sense the life force of the injured woman, almost see the purple essence of the woman's life force and it was flickering lightly. But it seemed to be drawn to the magic Harry was pushing into her body. However it was more than just seeing, she was able to tell what Harry was doing.

He was forcing Ventress' body to regenerate the wound, giving it the energy to produce the cells and repairs necessary and then essentially instructing the body in how to do so. He was checking her entire physical body for damage and problems while at the same time forcing it to remain functional, forcing the heart to beat, and lungs to draw breath. He was using his magic to keep her soul tied down and inhabiting the body. He was purging toxins from the body, though Ahsoka could tell that was almost an afterthought.

Ahsoka would later realize that she had no idea how she knew all that and would conclude she was absorbing knowledge directly from him, but for the moment she was just astounded by the amount of input and concentration she was observing.

It took an effort of will but Ahsoka forced herself out of the connection and back to her own body. She noticed Harry's eyes didn't so much as flicker to her and she wondered if he knew what she just did, or how, but knew in the moment that asking wasn't likely to get an answer. Her attention was drawn from those thoughts back to Ventress' body. She watched as the flesh seemed to ever so slowly begin refilling the hole in the stomach.

All of Ahsoka's focus on the woman in front of her was halted by the sudden distinctive sound of a lightsaber igniting. She whirled around, her own saber in her hand, for one brief irrational moment thinking that one of their two Jedi companions were going to attack.

It was Shaak Ti's lightsaber that was lit, however she wasn't even facing Harry at the moment. Instead she was facing the path to the docking bay where two cowled figures had come to a stop when faced with a lightsaber wielding Jedi Master.

Aayla had turned as well, and though her lightsaber was in her hand it was not lit as they stared at the two large and cloaked figures.

The one in the lead pulled the cowl off of his head. Underneath was an intimidating visage. A red face with horns protruding from his skull and black tattoos. Set in the face were a pair of yellow eyes set in a scowl.

"Darth Maul…" Aayla said, her voice level though she clearly shifted into a defensive stance.

The Zabrak tilted his head and frowned in confusion as he examined Aayla as if trying to place her.

Ahsoka looked at him sharply. She had never encountered him before. However she had heard about the Sith that had killed Obi-Wan's Master back when he was a Padawan. The one that Obi-Wan had in turn bisected, but that somehow had lived through the experience only to torment them further over a decade later by killing someone Anakin had said Master Kenobi was close to.

A quick glance down at the being's legs let her know that they were artificial. They were covered in pants, but no shoes, and she could sense the dead energy of machines in him from his waist down.

The figure behind him also removed his hood, and revealed a Zabrak whose skin was a light tan or grey. He had longer horns than his companion though at least one was broken off. What was identical was the yellow eyes that stared at the group with no attempt to hide the malice they contained.

"The Force favors us, brother." the unknown Sith spoke. His voice was gravelly and harsh, "Hunting the pet of the Sith pretender has brought us to two more Jedi."

Ahsoka hadn't heard much about this one, beyond her old Master mentioning that Maul's brother was also a Sith.

Darth Maul nodded, a brief smile crossing his face, although given his tattooed visage, it looked more like a grimace. "More than that… Savage. It has brought us to the one responsible for all the disturbances and the change to the Force itself." In contrast to his brother's his voice was surprisingly crisp and had a refined rumble to it.

Ahsoka glanced back and noted that Harry wasn't paying attention to the confrontation. Indeed it seemed like he hadn't even noticed it yet. He was still focused on Ventress, and while Ahsoka could see a little improvement in the wound in Ventress stomach, it was still a massive hole.

Darth Maul glanced between Harry and the other Jedi. "Stand aside, Jedi, and we will allow you to leave without killing you. We were only here for the _failure_, but we'll be taking the unknown with us as well," said Maul as he gestured with his hand toward Harry, who continued to ignore the entire exchange as he worked on Ventress.

Aayla's response was to finally ignite her two lightsabers, "The last time we fought may have gone in your favor, but I assure you I am far more capable of protecting myself and others this time, Maul."

Maul regarded her with genuine confusion for a moment, "I do not recall ever facing a pink Twi'lek Jedi before," he responded with a tone of amusement.

He looked her body up and down and said, "The only one I have faced was a Rutian, though your chest is a little better than I remember hers being."

Ahsoka blinked and then couldn't help herself and snorted in amusement despite the situation. She had gotten so used to seeing Aayla colored pink she hadn't even thought about it.

Aayla's expression tightened in irritation as she inwardly vowed to make Harry turn her back if they got out of this. She did not have time for a rejoining remark however as an impatient Savage leapt toward her.

His crimson red lightsaber ignited in his hand as he reached the apex of his jump. Aayla's lightsaber met his but she was forced back by the sheer momentum of his strike. He followed up with a downward slash that also connected to her lightsabers with jarring force.

Maul seemed briefly irritated with his brother's brashness but stalked forward much more deliberately. He walked directly toward Harry, who _still _seemed unaware of what was transpiring.

Ahsoka moved to intercept him but was stopped by Shaak Ti's voice.

"No. Stay back and protect the injured if necessary." The older Togruta instructed as she moved into Maul's path, her voice brooking no argument, "You have had your fight today. This confrontation is mine."

Unlike Aayla she didn't wait to be attacked, instead her own measured strides met Maul's as her saber flashed out only to be blocked by his dual bladed saber. However, unlike Savage's assault upon Aayla, Maul's strikes barely seemed to slow her, as she whirled around and flowed smoothly into another attack.

The disgraced Sith was forced to match her swipes and then twist as another movement slipped past his guard while she ducked his own swipe.

Ahsoka watched and couldn't help but be impressed with the incredible grace that Shaak Ti moved with. Ahsoka was aware that she was skilled, and that wasn't ego talking. She know that she had risen to upper echelon of the Order's lightsaber wielders. Sparring with her master demanded nothing less. However she knew that did not have the fluidity of movement that Shaak Ti had. The older Togrutan's lightsaber style seemed to involve a lot of flowing with blows that she would then turn into assaults of her own.

While Shaak Ti was grace personified as she moved, Maul was different. Despite the hindrance his artificial legs must have brought, his movements were athletic and explosive as he jumped and shifted between defending and attacking.

The two of them moving together seemed like an incredibly athletic dance with their lightsabers only striking one another occasionally as they more often dodged or avoided one another's assault. She also noted that the older woman had quite expertly guided the fight away from where Harry remained crouched.

Ahsoka looked over and noted that Aayla and Savage Opress' battle seemed a study in contrast stylistically. Aayla's dual lightsabers met Savage Opress' blades again and again in almost constant sounds quickly in a constant back and forth.

His style was different than Maul's in that it was far less flowing and seemed to be all about overwhelming power in strikes. This fact seemed to be borne out to Ahsoka as she saw that Aayla did seem to be forced back with the blows far more often than he did when he defended from her strikes.

While Shaak Ti and Maul both spun and leaped, their battle taking place as much in the air as on the ground. Aayla and Savage barely left the ground as their battle was straightforward as they forced one another back and forward.

Though the results of the two fights, at least for the moment seemed to be the same. Both Sith were focused on their opponents and not on Ventress and Harry. The battles were actually moving away from the two.

However Ahsoka's attention was jerked back to Ventress as she felt a powerful surge of magic and simultaneously heard Ventress suddenly gasp loudly for breath. Harry's hand was still on her stomach, a stomach that Ahsoka could see was intact and whole. No sign of the injury that had been there previously.

Ahsoka looked to Harry and was only somewhat surprised to see his eyes still glowing emerald as he stared at Ventress. She could still feel his determination through their bond, but she could also feel something else. A sense of bracing himself for what was to come.

Before Ahsoka could even form the question. She felt another surge of magic from Harry and the result was instantaneous, with her entire body arching up off the ground as all her muscles spasmed. A wordless screech of agony escaped the woman's throat, her vocal cords strained harshly.

Ahsoka stared as the only thing that seemed to prevent Ventress from unconsciously throwing herself into the air was Harry's hand on her stomach holding her down.

"Harry?" She asked tentatively, her question obvious. She could see Ventress' entire body was jerking and writhing and Ahsoka could actually see different muscles shifting and writhing under the woman's skin as if there were snakes moving through her flesh.

Her entire body seemed to continue to buck and contort in agony. Ahsoka was about to shake Harry, demand to know what was happening, when she saw something that stunned her.

From Ventress' skin a little metal bug seemed to force its way out of her arm, leaving a bloody wound that slowly healed over. That was just the first of many little pieces of cybernetics that were forced out from under her skin. Ahsoka watched in horrified fascination as they came from her chest, neck and under the skin on her face including out from the side of both of her eye sockets.

Everywhere they came out there were trails of blood, although the wounds healed over almost immediately. Eventually, when no more seemed to emerge, the woman slumped down on the ground, though it never seemed like she fully regained consciousness.

Harry knelt there breathing heavily, and wiped his brow of sweat. "Harry, is she…? Ahsoka hesitantly asked.

"Physically she's fine." Harry responded letting out a slow breath. He was honest enough with himself to admit that he had just performed the hardest and most complex healing that he had ever done. Another thirty seconds, a minute maybe, and the woman would have passed on. He comforted himself slightly with the thought that he was pretty sure none of the medical texts he had that were filled with spells he mostly studiously ignored for years, would have held spells that would have done everything he just did.

He did resolve to check when he had the chance, just to be sure. Removing cybernetic doo-hickies could always be something some ancient wizard studied and created a spell for, after all.

Maybe. The thought that Snape could have had retro-rockets or something similar surgically stuck up his arse would have explained so much. His bad mood, lack of hygiene, and especially the ability to make his cloak billow like it had.

"Physically?" Ahsoka echoed, interrupting his thoughts.

"Yes, I have no idea where she will be mentally, and there's still one thing left to do." Harry said after letting out another breath.

"What's that?" Ahsoka asked concern still filling her voice.

Harry's reply was cut off by the sound of a lightsaber shredding through metal and a loud cry of surprise. Both Harry and Ahsoka turned quickly toward the source of the sound as it reminded them both there was a battle taking place near them.

Their eyes zeroed in on the lightsaber battle Ahsoka had almost forgotten was going on due the shock of the removal of so much hardware from Ventress. Though now the fight was over 200 meters away. Savage Opress was holding his shoulder where his robotic arm had been cleanly shorn off. He was holding his lightsaber in his remaining hand but was definitely on the defensive as Aayla circled, clearly having the advantage.

Savage would have been in serious trouble, but he was joined a moment later by his brother Maul who had immediately disengaged from his fight with Shaak Ti, a dance he had bizarrely found that he was enjoying.

Even as he leaped to protect his brother, he force pulled a crate and threw it at Aayla, forcing her to jump back from his brother. "We must withdraw Savage."

"No!" The once again one armed Zabrak protested,

"You are injured, we are at a disadvantage." Maul countered, before his voice dropped. He didn't look away from Aayla as she moved back in except to take Shaak Ti into account as she approached from the side.

"Go. Now." The command in Maul's voice was clear.

Savage looked like he was going to argue before he glanced at the Jedi they faced. Without another word, he turned and with an impressive use of the Force leaped away from the docking bay, over the abrupt drop. Another leap had him on top of a nearby building and then he was gone.

Maul cut off any attempt by Aayla to follow by throwing another crate in front of them, "Catch me if you can, Jedi." He taunted and then turned and leaped away in the same direction his brother departed. He covered the space his brother had covered in two leaps in a single bound and disappeared into the Nar Shaddaa night.

Aayla took a step to follow the Zabrak but Shaak Ti's voice cut her off.

"Don't!" Shaak Ti's commanding voice rang out, halting Aayla in her tracks.

Aayla looked over at her as if she lost her mind, "What? We're just going to let them go?"

Shaak Ti frowned as she stared into the night. She hadn't consciously decided to say that. She reached out with her senses to try and sense the two but unable to find even a sense of them.

Her mind worked through how the Force had nudged her more firmly than she had been used to of late. "It's… a trap to draw us in somewhere they have the advantage."

Aayla realized the truth of her friend's statement as she remembered her last time on this moon two or so short weeks earlier. She shut down both of her lightsabers. "There are still bounties on Jedi. They hoped to get us somewhere more public and possibly have us fighting enemies on all sides." Aayla surmised slowly as she reattached her lightsabers to her belt.

Shaak Ti nodded and mimicked her action as they both turned back towards the docking bay entrance where Ahsoka and Harry both were watching their approach.

"You let them get away?" Ahsoka said, a trace of confusion in her voice as they approached.

"They were attempting to lead us away. Taunting us to follow. I'm guessing they either had an ambush set up or a place to easily arrange one." Shaak Ti stated.

Ahsoka's brow furrowed, though that was mostly because Skyguy wasn't usually one for letting people to just wander away. He was much more one to follow after them and spring the trap, trusting in his abilities and the Force to see them through. She frowned at the sudden surge of feeling she received from Harry.

Turning to look at him, she saw him staring where the two had retreated to, before shaking his head. "I'm almost certain they'll turn up again."

"How do you know?" Ahsoka asked.

"Experience. Justice will find them. Sooner or later." Harry replied after a brief pause. He considered all the times he had fought opponents who escaped and how often they returned after licking their wounds. 'Bad pennies' was a poor comparison but Harry was too worn out to come up with a better one.

"How is Ventress?" Aayla asked gesturing at the woman lying on the ground, drawing both Harry and Ahsoka's attention back. Though Aayla's eyes did a double take when she saw the place where there had been a hole in her stomach.

Harry regarded the two Jedi thoughtfully for a moment before turning back to the woman. "As I was telling Ahsoka, physically she's fine."

Shaak Ti barely heard him speak as she kneeled down at the fallen Sith's side and placed her hand on the unconscious woman's stomach. She reached out with her senses before she abruptly looked up at Harry with wide eyes as every bit of the Force she was capable of channeling showed her something she couldn't fathom being possible.

""That…" she began to stutter out loud, all composure nearly lost at the undeniable evidence in front of her. "Not even all of the best Jedi Healers in the Order working together could have healed that wound…"

The Jedi seemed utterly at a loss, as she looked back, mumbling, "I'm not sure even a legend like Nomi Sunrider could have done this."

She had understood what Harry had been attempting to do, but thought it was likely to revolve around keeping the woman alive somehow in stasis until further treatment could be arranged. To see it actually completed… To see it successful...

Shaak Ti was just taken aback. She had seen some of what magic was capable of. Healing was something she had considered herself an authoritative source of knowledge at when it came to the Force, and Harry had just destroyed every preconception she had.

"There's still one more thing I need to do though." Harry added, somewhat amused by the expression on Shaak Ti's face.

"What's that?" Aayla asked in a repetition of Ahsoka's earlier question.

Harry hesitated and his brow twisted. "It's probably better if I show you, than just trying to explain it."

"Is it necessary to do it right this moment? Or is it possible to delay for a short time?" Aayla inquired, as she looked away from Harry and around at the docking area, which seemed a lot less secure now to all of them. "I doubt our recent fight has gone unnoticed."

"Shavit!" Ahsoka cursed under her breath as she looked around, "I bet there are hunters headed this way right now to investigate the commotion and hope for an easy bounty."

Harry looked around and shook his head, "As amusing as it would be to let Dobby play with more bounty hunters, it's not worth the hassle right now."

He turned around and picked Ventress up in his arms bridal style, with only a glance at the small pile of cybernetic implants that had come out of her. They all saw a twitch of one of his hands, and the various pieces of cybernetics all vanished without a trace.

Without another word, he turned and headed into the bay with his ship, and less than three minutes later, they were airborne. They took a direct path out of the gravity well before jumping into hyperspace a few short minutes later. Once again, their foresight to change the appearance of the ship served them well, as no ships accosted them upon their departure.

Unbeknownst to any of the inhabitants of the Gryffindor, just as they entered hyperspace, another ship emerged from hyperspace.

The occupant of this ship sensed the departure of the one she had desperately searched for these past few months, and pushed away the vague sense of frustration that grew as she realized how close she had just been. Quickly, she plotted a course to follow the ship's hyperspace vector, encouraged more and more by how close her quarry had just been.

**oOoOooOoOOoOooOoOo**

Ahsoka was surprised as they jumped into hyperspace. She had watched as Harry keyed in a course. "Where are we headed?" She asked curiously.

Harry glanced over at her as the stars streaked into lights. His face reflected amusement briefly, "Nowhere."

Ahsoka narrowed her eyes in suspicion of a prank. However before she could say anything, a light on the holocom in front of them started to flash.

Harry looked caught off guard, glancing at Ahsoka briefly, "I swear, if this is more trouble. I'm preemptively saying this is all your fault." He said sardonically before reaching forward and flicking the holocom.

The holo com wavered up before resolving into an image of a human male. The male heavy set, with a heavy mustache and long hair, but only from the sides and back, the top of his head was completely bald.

Harry leaned back and beamed, "Stroth! Long time no see. I see no one has taken a vibroblade to that ferret you have glued on your face."

Neither Shaak Ti nor Ahsoka recognized the man, but Aayla was staring at the holo with narrowed eyes, the image seeming familiar to her from somewhere, however she wasn't able to immediately place him.

The man didn't seem to be in a jovial mood and made no mood to respond to Harry's comment, "Kriffing hell, Potter! What in Caraya's soul did you do?" He demanded, completely irate.

Harry cocked his head to the side, his amused mood, turning into one of puzzlement, "What? Did someone file a complaint after waking up in a pile of naked bodies?"

"What? Naked bodies? What naked bodies?" That seemed to derail the man shortly before he shook his head, "No, you know what, forget it. I don't even want to know... unless it has anything to do with the insane price that was put on your head a few hours ago."

"Insane price?" Harry tilted his head the opposite direction, "None of those people could have put more than a few thousand creds out for me."

"A f-a few thousand?" Stroth snorted dismissively, shaking his head in exasperation.

"I'm talking about the fact that there a huge price out for you right now," Stroth said, his tone once more turning serious. "Someone wants you… badly."

"What are you talking about?" Harry asked, though there was a touch of resignation to his voice.

"Harry… seriously… did you… I don't know…manage to blow up an inhabited system or something?" Stroth sounded more than a little concerned.

"Stroth, are we talking Jedi level here?" Harry asked, a sinking sensation in his stomach.

"Jedi level?" Stroth shook his head, "Potter, with all the activity lately, a well-known live-Jedi nets you a 7-figure bounty. Even the less well known ones will net you a solid six figures."

"Yeah?" Harry said leadingly

"The price on you alive is a hundred," Stroth said. His tone making him sound more than a little incredulous.

"A hundred thousand? Impressive… but, that's not even Jedi level." Harry replied, rolling his eyes.

"That's a hundred _million_ credits, Potter." Stroth said cutting him off from saying anything further.

"What?!" A chorus of voices echoed in the cockpit. For the first time, Harry was in complete unison with the three women.

"Yes, a few hours ago, the notice went out on you. A passable description of you, and more importantly, an exact description of that damned ship of yours." Stroth said. "I warned you about flying around in something so eye-catching! I doubt there's a port in any system under any jurisdiction you'll be able to land before turbolasers start flying."

"It's gotta be some slicer playing a prank or something," Harry said after a few moments, scoffing at the figure.

"No. The amount has been guaranteed by the banker's guild," Stroth replied with a shake of his head.

"So it's either the banking guild itself who wants me dead, or the money has already been deposited with them," Harry mused on the bit of information.

"Right. Believe me, that's the first thing everyone checked on." Stroth replied.

"Even you?" Harry inquired.

"Especially me." Stroth replied before his tone turned more exasperated, "Who the fuck did you piss off that has that sort of money to move around, much less to spend it putting a price on tracking _you _down?"

Harry's eyes narrowed, "You say this is a 'price', not a 'bounty'," he observed

"That's right. Not approved by the guild. Not that it matters." Stroth said with disgust in his tone as he was distracted from his question by Harry's question.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked, scratching his cheek thoughtfully at that statement.

"Doesn't matter whether the guild approves this or not, Potter. It's a hundred million kriffing credits. Forget the rash of Jedi bounties that went out a few weeks ago. This has _everyone's_ attention. Every crime syndicate, bounty hunter, hit man, smuggler, and random enterprising thug is going to go after it, guild bylaws be damned. If I even try and squawk about it to membership, a hundred or more different hunters will probably come after me thinking I know where you are, or might have a lead."

"Fan-fucking-tastic," Harry muttered, rubbing a hand over his mouth.

"That's not even the worst of it." Stroth said, his voice turning even grimmer.

"Oh goody. I'm so glad that having every bounty hunter in the galaxy after my head isn't the worst of it." Harry sighed in exasperation.

"Nearly every Hutt organization is going all hands on deck in a hunt for you… and… the Black Sun has pulled in every operative and officially declared an all-out hunt. The Vigo's were all ordered by Prince Xizor himself to make this a priority," Stroth said.

"That's… going to get messy," Harry replied slowly.

"No kidding." Stroth said dryly. "So… you wanna share with me what the fuck you did?" He gave a critical eye to the trio of feminine Jedi surrounding Harry, and a small smirk crossed his face "Or _who _you did as the case may be?"

Harry pinched the bridge of his nose, ignoring the comment. "What else? Managed to skip putting my toes in the water and just leapt in with both feet."

"A Shocker. Truly," Stroth replied sarcastically. "And now I'm going to have to find someplace to hide. When I warn bounty hunters that it's not a sanctioned hunt, and threaten expulsion for participants, sooner, rather than later, someone is sure to go digging and find that I was your sponsor. I'm as good as dead."

Ahsoka exchanged glances with the two Jedi master's sitting by her. Shaak Ti's expression was stoic and considering, while Aayla's was concerned and had her brow furrowed. She couldn't help feeling guilty at the moment as all of the bad things happening to her new Master were certainly tied into him helping her.

Harry ran a hand through his hair as he sighed before he looked up at the holo image, "Then don't."

"Don't what?" Stroth asked rather bemusedly.

"Don't threaten people for it not being sanctioned hunt," Harry said slowly.

"Harry…?" Stroth seemed caught off guard.

Harry's hesitant voice turned more decisive and he looked up, his eyes flashing. "I'm serious. I would… warn any of your actual friends. Anyone who goes hunting is putting their life in their own hands."

The man in the transmission was silent for a few moments, before his voice reflected genuine concern, "Potter, I'd give you even odds against any of the good hunters given your Force-Forsaken luck... But even your bag of tricks won't be able to handle the sheer number coming now. Throw in the Hutts? And then kriffing Black Sun? They're… they're serious Harry."

"What about you?" Harry asked, "Where do you stand?"

"You know I can't hunt you," the man said after a pause, "But… I'm not sure how many friends you have left. One hundred million is more creds than most cartels ever dream of holding."

Harry was silent for nearly fifteen seconds before looking up. "Like I said, put out the word to your friends and anyone you want to live that I'm a threat who won't hesitate to kill, and have a remarkable ability to do just that, Stroth."

"What about any of your friends?" Stroth asked, after a moment, slowly nodding in agreement. His tone turning soft.

"If they're my friends, then they know better than to even try and hunt me," Harry replied with an apathetic shrug.

"That's all well and good, so what about the rest of the galaxy? Anyone who isn't among my dozen friends and your two." Stroth asked sarcastically, "What about the Hutts and the Black Sun?"

"You know I'm not one to go quietly into the night, Stroth," the dark haired wizard replied, his voice taking on a deadly tone.

Stroth had nothing to say to that, he just regarded Harry with a more evaluative expression, though it didn't do anything to erase the doubt in his expression.

"And if the others found that we talked?" he asked quietly. "I don't fancy putting myself in Black Sun's targeting systems…"

"Tell them you were trying to trick my travel plans out of me, and that I wouldn't tell you but was obviously planning on laying low for a while." Harry replied. "Then go someplace you might conceivably find me hiding. Make it look like you're trying to find me too."

"Oh yeah? Like where?" Stroth scoffed, "Some dead or dying world in the ass end of space? You've visited your fair share of those."

Harry smirked a little, and Ahsoka swore his eyes actually twinkled, "I don't know. I hear Zeltron is nice this time of year."

"Zeltron is nice _any_ time of year. Just a bit expensive for me." Stroth replied with a laugh.

Harry grinned in response and reached forward and punched keys on a terminal adjacent to the holocom for around a minute. "There, that account should have more than enough keep you entertained for a while. Consider it a thank you and present for missed work all rolled into one," he said, cutting off the anticipated protest from the man.

Stroth looked down as his protest was cut off by Harry's pragmatic statement. His eyes widened before he looked up at Harry. "I think that'll do just fine," his grin now a mixture of thanks and avarice.

Harry smiled, "Happy hunting."

Stroth nodded and reached forward before hesitating. "Want ten cred's worth of free advice?"

"Sure…" Harry answered with a grin of his own.

"I don't know what you did, pretty sure I don't even _want_ to know," Stroth shook his head, "But I'd take your own advice and get disappeared real fast. There's not a port in the galaxy that will be safe for you. And anyone traveling with you should split real fast or they'll be at risk too."

"Story of my fucking life," Harry replied wryly.

Stroth just snorted, "I wish you more of your unique brand of luck, Harry. You'll need every mote of it."

"Oh, believe me. I haven't even begun to delve into my bag of tricks yet," Harry replied with a nod, smiling despite the seriousness of their conversation.

Stroth reached off-screen, and the call disconnected without further preamble and then leaned back into the pilot's seat with a sigh.

"A tenth of a _billion_ creds," Ahsoka said after a moment, shock and disbelief filling her tone, her mind rather understandably still having trouble processing the large price on his head.

"Well, that didn't take long," Harry said dryly, the bombshell Stroth had launched into their midst, leaving him stroking his chin slowly.

"What!? You were expecting this?" Ahsoka did not yell, she simply… inquired very forcefully with a slightly increased amount of volume in her voice.

She could feel Harry's reaction to the news, and while she would freely admit that Harry regularly reacted the way one expected. Resignation, and very little surprise, all tinged with amusement was definitely not what she expected as a reaction to finding out someone was the most hunted person in the galaxy… possibly _ever._

"You were expecting the price of a few decent systems to be put on your head, the Hutts and the-the Black Suns hunting you?" She was slightly frustrated at the end. All the stress of the two fights at the docks plus her slow processing of the bounty left her a bit pent up and she really didn't feel like being 'calm and collected' right now.

This was a level beyond even what her old master would shrug off. Even Skyguy would have taken the threat and concern a bit more seriously.

"Was I expecting this precise series of events? Absolutely!" He said brightly.

Ahsoka just regarded him with a skeptical expression.

"Okay... maybe not this _exact_ setup, but I knew the moment I… revealed myself, I'd become a target." Harry responded still lounging in his seat.

"Yes… but… but all that? You won't be able to set foot anywhere…" Ahsoka couldn't stop the disbelief in her tone.

"Meh, if I had a credit for every time I was being hunted by some assholes who wanted me for revenge, money, knowledge, power, fame, suicide by Harry Potter, insanity, or some combination of the above. I'd be able to buy a starship." He grinned and patted Ahsoka on the shoulder.

It was always rough on the first timers when they were introduced to the craziness that was his life. Still, he considered her performance on the trial run up to now to be very promising. Ahsoka herself did not look terribly reassured.

"Really, Harry?" Aayla asked, herself only doing a little better than Ahsoka in regards to coming to terms with their situation, but for an entirely different reason.

She _knew_ what the numbers and factions involved in this posting represented, and it was a truly frightening concept to have basically the entirety of the galaxy's criminal underworld now declaring open season on the man a few feet away from her.

"Besides, I've even got a sneaking suspicion of who put the price on my head," Harry mused.

"Who?" Aayla demanded immediately.

"Given the circumstances, and my luck, I figure it'll be most likely to that mysterious fellow currently operating as the resident Dark Lord you all are so concerned about," Harry almost idly reached up to the dashboard and pressed a few buttons, as that bombshell settled in.

Aayla and Shaak Ti both blinked in shock. Ahsoka did the same, but then narrowed her eyes, she could tell Harry was enjoying the reactions to that statement. That Harry seemed so...nonchalant, made Ahsoka's tone more than a little skeptical. "What could possibly make you think that?"

"Elementary, my dear," Harry said drolly, knowing that if Dora could hear him she'd be groaning up a storm at his affected air. "Few people could have the money, pull, or most importantly, the desire to set this up."

He gave a thoughtful look and further expounded, "Especially the money, unless one of those naked smugglers was slumming out of boredom. Which is a possibility with this kind of money, Merlin knows you'd run out of things to buy at least."

He looked up to see if anyone appreciated his humor. Upon seeing the vastly not amused and still expectant faces arrayed before him, he sighed and gave in to their silent urging, "Very well. The only thing I've done recently enough that was big enough to warrant this was that small encounter with that floating pile of scrap that was once a fleet. Add to that, the only ones who knew that it was me specifically who did the deed were, Salporin, his king, the four of us in this cockpit, Kento and Mallie."

Before they could voice their objections he raised a hand, "The Wookies we can pretty much rule out completely, since Salporin and his king both know how much I value my privacy after the favors I've done them in the past. And since it's an honor thing that pretty much rules the two of them and any of their immediate subordinates out. Kento and Mallie are pretty much the same. We can safely rule out myself, yes?" He idly spun in the chair to face them.

"That leaves two things. Any recordings or readouts done by the droid forces of the assault. However given that I had us obscured, and destroyed every ship that entered atmo, I find it very unlikely that they were able to pinpoint me. That just leaves the Jedi Council and your report to them."

That caused guilty looks all around as well as narrowed eyes from the two older women. "No worries, ladies, if I really wanted to force the issue and keep mum on the matter, I would have just locked you out of the communication system."

Harry waved off the concern. "And while I've made it clear, I don't like them or their methods, Jedi despise bounty hunters and the like **far** more and would never stoop to using them. Plus-"

He leaned in as though sharing a secret, drawing them in despite themselves, "-I don't think they could afford this, not without the entire galaxy knowing." The trio of growls and groans this received showed that despite his mastery of the art of snark, he was still surrounded by philistines.

Aayla smacking him upside the head didn't help either.

"And that's another reason, I can't imagine the Council spending that kind of money when you two are still right here. If they wanted me brought in, the two of you would have tried first." He gestured casually at the two of them.

Aayla and Shaak Ti sobered up at the reminder of Aayla's and potentially Shaak Ti's mission regarding Harry. Yes it was good he didn't assume the Order would go this far to get to him...but having the reminder that the Order _may_ want to get to him at all didn't help.

"However, your report to the Council is what probably triggered it. As I mentioned, if you have a Dark Lord on your hands, he is nearly certain to have ears within the Council."

"The Council would not share something like that, not with a Dark lord of all people!" Shaak Ti protested immediately, her tone filled with ire.

"Not knowingly," Harry countered drawing them up short. "The Council, like almost all other organizations facing oppositions, is vulnerable to betrayal, to being outwitted, or infiltration and espionage."

The pair of Jedi blinked, wanting to argue the point, that their Order was not so vulnerable, but found all protests fading before they could be spoken. Shaak Ti knew it wouldn't take much being said or done for a skilled mind to glean valuable information. Her heart grew heavy as the implications this bore for their Order, the Republic, and potentially the war itself.

His expression turned self-deprecating, "Though, I do have to say that I'm going to have to say no more calls to the Council without my permission. If you want to leave, I can put you on a ship and send you on your way. But given that they have information about me, I'm willing to guess they also know who's traveling with me, and they won't hesitate to try and get information from you."

Ahsoka shook off the increasing gloom that seemed to be settling over them like an oppressive shroud, "This all sucks majorly, but I'll tell you one thing I know for sure!"

Harry raised a sardonic brow at his apprentice, "Oh, do tell."

She gave him a level glare, "This is most definitely _**not**_ my fault. You pulled this off all by yourself _Master_. Well, the big boom part at least."

Aayla had an expression on her face like she didn't know whether to laugh or yell as she watched Harry burst into laughter at Ahsoka's spunky reminder of Harry's 'preemptive' finger pointing.

"Fair enough 'Miss Soaky'. I will take the credit for this current situation, skullduggery in the ranks notwithstanding." Harry's expression grew distant for a moment, before he shook his head, "However, none of its really material at the moment. I need to finish healing your friend. Then take a look at the slicer's data and see if I can make heads or tails of it."

Ahsoka's eyes grew wide in concern for her...well, she still didn't know what to call the former Sith apprentice, "But I thought she was healed already."

Harry gave her a comforting smile even as Aayla nodded to the Togruta's question, "Physically yes, she's stable and recovering, but there's still the matter of the hold her former master had on her."

Settling back a bit, Ahsoka saw his point. Ventress had been so sure they could find her again, and with all she'd been learning about magic and the Force, who knew what kind of stuff the Sith could do that would result in, as Ventress had put it, "_They reached me anywhere. Orders. Commands. Can't hide._"

She swallowed at the idea of having something like that pounding day in and out in her mind.

"But you'll be able to fix it right?" She kept her voice level, but couldn't suppress the hesitant hope in it.

Harry didn't break eye contact, nor did his normal humor or teasing surface. "Yeah. I can fix it. Just wasn't going to do that there. I want you to see it. And…whatever bastard put her on the active end of a bond that bears a lot of similarities to a slavery bond is going to regret it."

After returning Ahsoka's thankful smile with a twitch of his lips, Harry turned back to the navigation console, deciding they needed to change heading. No need to make it too easy if someone had tracked their trajectory from Nar Shaddaa.

Harry left the cockpit after programming it to take them out of hyperspace at a position nowhere close to any systems, essentially leaving them hanging in void between different stars. Somewhere that the odds were almost infinitesimal that anyone was going to stumble on them.

He moved briskly down the corridor and through an access hatch to his pseudo-infirmary, stopping to stand next to the table where he had left Ventress lying. The others had followed him, but Ahsoka wasn't really paying attention to them. Instead her attention was on the woman lying on the table.

Lying upon the table, the Sith Assassin looked different to all eyes, even from the brief time since they had been fighting. The greyish cast of her skin had lightened, turning paler than anything. Her facial tattoos, once so vivid along her cheek and jawline, were gone as though they had never existed. Harry's eyes flared as Ahsoka felt a welling of magic, though she didn't see any effect. Harry reached up towards her and then stopped as a thought seemed to occur to him.

"Ahsoka, you remember the feeling of the magic you used in transfiguring those rocks?" He asked, his tone more curious than anything. "Or the magic you used in controlling your mind?"

Ahsoka nodded hesitantly. "Yeah…?" She had no idea where Harry was going with this.

"I want you to focus on that feeling. I want you to grab that magic, and will it up to your eyes." Harry said carefully. He wasn't certain she'd be able to do it or not considering it was a rather advanced skill, but if there was anyone who could beat the learning curve on a difficult skill, it was the young woman in front of him.

Ahsoka frowned in concentration, ignoring the slight shifting from Shaak Ti behind her, able to sense the elder woman's uncertainty. Harry's words weren't detailed by any means, but she had gotten more general instructions as a Jedi Padawan and still succeeded. She closed her eyes, then reached out for the Force. For several long moments she searched the surrounding area and, other than determining that Ventress was there, she couldn't sense more. She pulled her senses back realizing that wasn't what Harry was looking for.

She grabbed the Force and without a sure goal she pushed the feeling of the Force inward to center around her eyes. It definitely wasn't as easy as it sounded when Harry gave his instructions. It was harder keep ahold of the energies, and it kept seeming to slip away every time she felt she had come close to accomplishing her goal.

But she clenched her jaw and focused even more, and with one final push of will, she _felt_ the energies flow through her eyes and remain there. She hesitantly opened her eyes only for them to widen further in surprise. It was the same effect she had remembered from Kashyyyk. Everything seemed to glow, outlined by nebulous, prismatic energy. Once again she did see that same connection stretching between them that she had been so curious about before.

Harry snorted ruefully as he saw Ahsoka's blue eyes began to glow and she began to look around the room in amazement once more. He shook his head slightly, a movement that his odd outline left an afterimage behind for her to view. "It figures. Took me nearly a decade of searching for spells and testing things before figuring out what it took you ten minutes of instruction. The explanation is obvious to me."

There was a pause and he smiled wide, "I am clearly the best teacher ever. Of all time." He added modestly, not at all pretending to preen with overweening pride.

"Yes, I'm certain that's the logical conclusion," Ahsoka retorted sarcastically, as she turned her attention to Ventress. The woman's body was filled with energy that was pale red rather than the blue of the two Jedi Masters beside her. However her focus was on a dark red line that seemed to be connected to the woman's neck which gradually changed into a murky line of blackness that moved up towards Ventress' head and down towards the center of her chest.

The dark line stretched out of Ventress and went twisting off in the distance until it was lost from sight.

"What is that?" She murmured without thought. Ahsoka hesitantly reached out to touch the blood red line. Her movement was stopped by a grip of iron on her wrist, freezing the outstretched limb in place.

"Don't," Harry said, his voice a command.

Ahsoka looked at him questioningly, but before she could voice her question, she was cut off by Aayla, "What is what? What are you looking at?"

Harry released Ahsoka's wrist and she drew back her hand obediently. Harry turned to look from Ahsoka to Aayla, who was regarding the two of them speculatively, while Shaak Ti was…

Ahsoka frowned. Shaak Ti was peering intently at Ventress' body. But there was… a faint haze emanating from her. It was like a fog coming from her body that seemed to cover Ventress' body and just hover there. It took Ahsoka a moment to realize that the Jedi Master was using the Force and attempting to sense anything within the unconscious woman's body.

It was surreal to see the use of the Force in such a manner, actually able to give it visual context to an ability that could only be sensed by her in the past.

"I don't sense anything wrong within her. Physically she is fine, though her… spirit is still in great turmoil," Shaak Ti stated, her tone curious.

Harry glanced at Ahsoka and then with a small smile, reached out with two fingers and firmly poked first Aayla, and then Shaak Ti in the forehead with enough force for their head's to rock back slightly.

Their gasps were nearly instantaneous. Both Masters began looking around taking in the outline of the ship created by the energy flowing through it, and then each other and then Ahsoka and Harry.

Harry waved off their inevitable questions. "This is a version of mage sight. You want more details, ask me later. Or ask Miss Overachiever," he said dismissively as he turned his head back toward Ventress though his focus was only partially on the woman.

"That…" he pointed at the twisting black and red line that came from the woman, "Is a binding of influence. One step away from a servitude or slavery bond."

"What do you mean?" Shaak Ti asked, stepping closer and looking at the line of energy from Ventress' body with trepidation. But even that trepidation couldn't keep the awe from her voice.

Harry rubbed a hand over his chin as his eyes followed the line of energy into the woman's neck and stared intently at it, his gaze keeping it in focus as it coiled within the woman's chest. Ahsoka noticed that as he spoke, his voice once more slipped into that instructional tone, though it was more intense than normal. "I mean exactly that. It's not enough to outright control her. She could resist and fight when given orders. But, the controller's presence would always be there filling her mind. Tainting and manipulating her emotions as well as her physical reactions."

"And… what's a servitude bond?" Aayla asked, though she was relatively certain she knew the answer. She felt compelled to get clarification.

"A servitude or slavery binding is pretty much the subjugation of one being's will to another, enforced by Magic. If the one on the receiving end is told to do something, resisting is _nearly_ impossible." Harry explained.

"_Nearly_?" Aayla asked slowly at the particular emphasis on the word, apparently there was a story coming.

"Yes, sometimes orders can be interpreted in different ways… and provided actions don't conflict with other orders, it can allow a little leeway… or a lot." Harry's expression turned sardonic, and he shook his head.

Ahsoka stifled a snicker as a mental image of Dobby popped in her head from her link with Harry. She shook away the image in an unconscious imitation of her 'Master' and followed up with an earlier question, "So why did you stop me?"

"You're actively channeling magic, and you don't have anywhere near enough control right now to _only_ focus it to your eyes. You're suffusing your entire body with it right now." Harry shook his head as he crouched down bringing the woman's body to eye level, "Judging by that trail, there's a lot of bad emotions tied up in that. You put your hand through that while intending to touch it, and while channeling magic and the feedback would be… _uncomfortable _for you. And I have no idea what the person on the other end might be able to sense from you."

Harry fell silent as he continued to stare at the line in Ventress chest as it seemed to be tangled with the energy of Ventress' body before he nodded and straightened up.

"So… how are you going to break it?" Shaak Ti asked, unable to keep the fascination from her voice, regardless of their views on magic and the Force this was an unprecedented chance to gain understanding about the ancient Rivals of the Jedi and their methods. She had to wonder, if this was the case...how many of those that had "Fallen" had done so willingly, or had they been tricked by honeyed words and then hounded into madness like the woman Harry was healing before them.

"Like… this." Harry said as he held a hand above the woman's head and her chest, over the two areas the line seemed to swirl. All three could see the welling of magic inside Harry's hand that seemed to be a light blue. He made a clutching motion, and magic surged into the woman, causing her to arch from the table with a gasp, despite her unconscious state.

Ventress writhed and squirmed as the dark red energy seemed to resist being pulled from the dark Force wielder. Despite the clear spasming of her body, the woman made no sound. Harry's expression was set as he continued to pull and the dark magic seemed to slowly, almost reluctantly gather into a ball in front of him.

He didn't say anything as he continued to pull until no more came from her. He held the ball of dark red magic in one hand, while he passed his other over her body, checking for any lingering magic.

Ahsoka was glancing between it and the once more blissfully unconscious Ventress, her body now shimmering purple from the magic within her, but no longer the dark roiling magic it was before. She spoke up hesitantly, "Is she going to be okay?"

"She's free of its influence now. As for okay… that's more up to her. No telling what sort of psychological damage and other things we have to be concerned about. But she's free from the binding." Once he was certain, he lifted his eyes from the woman to the ball of dark red energy, something that the Jedi could all feel was full of anger and malice. Harry's own face was set in a scowl as he regarded it.

"What… are you going to do with that?" Shaak Ti asked, her voice filled with caution just being so close to it, to what could be described as the Dark side of the Force given form.

"It will return to the person on the other end of this," Harry said neutrally.

"Count Dooku…" Ahsoka said, with bitterness in her tone at the traitor to both the Republic and the Order.

"If that's who's holding the other end. Yes," Harry agreed calmly still, seeming unaffected by the malicious magic floating in his palm.

"What are you waiting for?" Aayla asked.

"While sometimes circumstances arise where necessity requires different types of bindings... this borders on soul magic, and I _really_ don't like people who abuse this sort of thing," Harry's mouth twisted and he shook his head, "As the person responsible is not present, I think a lesson expressing my displeasure is in order."

Ahsoka watched as his eyes narrowed and with his free hand he reached up to his own head. With a movement he pulled what looked to be a thick silver string from the side of his head with his fingers. He brought it and dropped it into the ball of red energy and they watched as it was seemingly absorbed by the red ball though occasionally flashes of silver could be seen among the red energy.

Harry nodded, and with a motion that looked like a heave he tossed the ball of energy directly up and away from him. It disappeared after only a moment, without the slightest trace that it had been there.

"What did you do?" Ahsoka demanded.

A decidedly unpleasant smirk crossed Harry's face, "We'll just call it the very definition of long-distance learning."

**oOooOoOOoOooOo**

Elsewhere,

Count Dooku was immersed in discussions with the Banking Guild chairman. He had moved a large sum of his own personal accounts into their holdings and they were most pleased, even if it was going to be used for a bounty and might need paid out sooner rather than later given the exorbitantly high price his Master had insisted on. Although given that the bounty would have to be delivered to him, Dooku intended to find out exactly why his master wanted this human so much.

In the middle of the conversation it suddenly hit, between one word and the next, his entire body jerked and he let out a cry of absolute suffering as pain suffused every fiber of his being. It was a pulsing nonstop agony that travelled along every nerve he possessed for what seemed like hours, but was less than a minute, before he collapsed into a graceless heap on the ground, still twitching and spasming from the aftershocks.

Droids had rushed immediately to his side and he was vaguely aware of someone taking his pulse by the time he was able to blearily think again. He ungraciously pushed them away as he put a hand to his head.

He had never felt anything like that before. He had felt former apprentices die and felt the distant and no longer used remnants of those precious connections he had with them snap without warning, but those were more ephemeral. He had always heard that having an apprentice die while they were still apprenticed could cause actual physical pain, but he had fortunately never experienced such a thing until now.

That was so far beyond what he expected it paled to any story he had ever heard.

He reached out with his senses to confirm what he already knew, his apprentice bond was gone. The only way for that to have happened was for Ventress to now be dead. And, if nothing else was certain about this entire episode, whatever had happened, Dooku was certain that the failure had died in utter agony.

He knew he would have to pass the information along to his Master and try and determine exactly how it happened.

Well, he would pass on the word, certainly. Just as soon as he was sure he could stand again without his legs collapsing out from underneath him. And he'd taken a sonic shower and changed his underwear.

**oOooOoOOoOooOo**

Ahsoka stepped into the cockpit, feeling somewhat refreshed and rejuvenated from the earlier stress of Nar Shaddaa. A dead slicer, battling and nearly killing Ventress, and then watching Harry heal her while two Sith assassins tried to attack was definitely up there on stressful days of her life. The fact that the Sith were after Harry, and that the Jedi Council pretty much proved they have blatant data leaks were the icing on the proverbial cake. She had taken time to take a shower to wash off the grime of their outing and take advantage of the cleansing nature of a hot, running shower to clear her mind of the jumble of thoughts still running through it.

Once she was dry and in clean clothes, she then immediately went back to check on Ventress, still worried about her after seeing that..._servitude bond _get pulled from the woman. Shaak Ti was already there, intently watching the woman for signs of waking up, her presence there despite Harry's statement that it would likely be a day or more before there was any hope of her regaining consciousness.

Also in the room was Aayla, who was more focused on the discussion she was currently having with Shaak Ti than Dooku's former apprentice in the large room's corner. Just a few overheard words of the conversation were enough for Ahsoka to quickly deduce this was not a conversation they were likely to welcome her participation. She made her way out of the impromptu medical room after to nodding to the two Jedi and getting distracted nods in response.

As Ahsoka headed to the cockpit, she found that Harry was sitting in one of the chairs in the back of the cockpit, feet up on another chair as he was frowning and flipping through files on the datapad. He didn't even look up when she entered, or give any indication he noticed at all. She settled down in the seat next to him and regarded him for several moments without speaking.

"Something on your mind?" Harry asked, without so much as lifting his eyes from the datapad.

Ahsoka started slightly and flushed a little bit, and then decided to forge ahead. She wanted to at least open this discussion sooner rather than later, "Are you upset with me?"

"Not at all, Ahsoka," Harry said, pausing a few moments before he finally looked up from his datapad to regard her with an even gaze, "You are not the first person who has made the decision to help, or even save, someone who has been, or is, an enemy, despite the inherent risks involved. It can be a smart or a dumb decision, but one can only be certain when looking at things in hindsight.

Ahsoka just looked at him without replying immediately so Harry forged on. "Sometimes showing mercy and going out of your way to save people is the best decision. Sometimes it's not. Like I told you, debts are extremely important in magic. I doubt anything would have happened if you let her die, especially considering she was trying to kill you. But not taking that chance would have weighed on your mind. Living with regrets can be the hardest thing."

Ahsoka regarded him steadily and then blinked once more. "Um. That's great… but I was asking if you were unhappy with the fact that it was kinda my fault that we weren't here in time to save the slicer."

"Oh…" Harry looked surprised, and then more than a little sheepish, "I just thought… never mind. Not sure how you got to the conclusion it's your fault though."

"Well, you might not have had to leave Nar Shaddaa if I hadn't been with you the first time we were there, or if I hadn't practically guilted you into being involved in the invasion at Kashyyyk." Ahsoka replied quietly, shoulders slumping in doubt.

"As much as I'd like to say that was you alone, never mind the disappointed looks that Blue and Red were giving me, that got me involved," Harry chuckled, "It's in my nature to care far too much. Something like this was bound to have happened eventually with the galaxy being one ever-changing war-zone. But to answer your question, no. It's not your fault she died. Neither of us could have known what would happen on Nar Shaddaa, even with the warning she gave us, so there's no use blaming yourself."

Ahsoka just regarded him with her piercing gaze as a look of realization crossed Harry's face as to what she was trying to do.

"Oh yes, how clever, trying to '_teach me something with my own words_'... like _that_ hasn't been done before," Harry said with a roll of his eyes, though his tone was as much amused as it was resigned.

"I just felt your emotions back when we were talking to the spirit and… well I knew you were blaming yourself. Harry, I wanted to point out with your own-"

Harry sighed as he interrupted her, "Ahsoka, I asked her to look into something that got her killed. My guilt complex is so over-developed it's practically legendary. A lecture with you, oh so cleverly turning my own words against me isn't going to change me blaming myself for that."

He looked down, some frustration clear on his face to the younger woman, "The blame come and goes. It's just something I have to deal with on my own."

"We'll just have to work on that together then." Ahsoka replied with a roll of her eyes, although Harry could easily see she was not joking and would not be dissuaded from 'helping' him.

"Fourteen counselors, a mastery of both occlumency and legilimency, two terminal degrees; one in psychology and one in social development. It's relatively safe to say I'm an expert on the mind, at least as much as anyone can be. It's not something that's just going to be fixed," Harry replied faintly.

"Well, you obviously haven't spoken to the right person yet." she said, slowly smirking the longer she felt Harry's exasperation grow. "I'll just have to give it a shot."

Ahsoka leaned over and gave Harry a half-patronizing pat on the cheek, and said "Doctor Tano will gladly take the case of the senile old pervert with guilt issues."

"Yeah, good luck with that," Harry said in response, amusement in his tone. "You don't think I didn't go through all this already? Not once, but twice given the headstrong nature of both of my wives?"

'Well, you know the saying. Maybe the third time will be the charm," Ahsoka replied flippantly, making it clear she wasn't just going to give up.

Harry blinked and then looked up at her, regarding her with open amusement.

Ahsoka, for her part, immediately felt Harry's incredulity and roaring mirth through their bond, and immediately backpedaled. "Wait! I meant that, I could help, just like they did, but, not-"

"So," Harry began to slowly say, "You want to be my third wife? Already staking a claim?"

"What?" Ahsoka stuttered. "No! That's not what I was sa-"

"Apprentice not enough for you. You want to go that extra step." Harry taunted, clearly enjoying Ahsoka's flustered state.

Ahsoka was shaking her head but slowed as she found herself feeling not only Harry's amusement, which was to be expected, but satisfaction. It hit her, he was doing it to put as much distance to their previous subject as he could. He did it to throw people off, change their focus. She had seen him do it previously to get out of something he didn't want to do or talk about.

She shook her head, "It's not going to work, you know. Joking and teasing to try and get me off guard and get out of talking about it."

Harry's amused expression faded and a sigh of resignation escaped him. "Look, I am who I am. I told you, I'm literally… like a hundred times older than you. And more people than you can imagine have tried to break me of certain habits. My wives really did try to break some of those habits, but they would switch off with individual and team approaches. What makes you think you're going to manage it?"

Ahsoka shrugged, "I'm used to dealing with stubborn nerf-headed teachers. We'll just have to see what happens. Besides, there's three smart women here. I'm sure the smarter sex will think of something."

Harry just rolled his eyes, "If you'd like to waste your time, it's not like I can stop you. You'll be in good company if nothing else. My wives never gave up," he said with an almost fond expression on his face…

...and just when Ahsoka thought he was making a rather vulnerable admission, Harry's mask was up again.

He suddenly grinned impishly, then said, "Then again I did always like threesomes."

Ahsoka narrowed her eyes and then grinned back, refusing to be put off guard, "I'm a Togruta, I don't mind groups. Sharing is in our nature."

That actually caused Harry to blink, and for once he had no quick comeback. Harry's mouth was actually open as he stared at her. She had been getting better at hitting back at him, but that was the first time she had truly surprised him.

She grinned at him, and despite the content of her teasing, she was managing to keep from blushing. "You were the one who brought up your wives in the first place. If that's the sort of thing you want, maybe you can convince Aayla. But you're on your own with that particular one. In the meantime, you'll have to get used to baring all with me."

Before he could respond in kind she looked down at the datapad, and changed the topic on her own, "Any progress?"

Harry was still caught off guard and decide to add one parting comment to the conversation. He was well aware of all the examples of this kind of bond becoming much deeper, and he had no clue what sort of feelings would initiate something deeper.

"Be careful, my Apprentice… you're playing with fire. You could get burned."

"I've seen you play with fire. I think that's one of the things you need to teach me soon," Ahsoka responded airily, buoyed by her managing to catch him on the hop, she could feel his amusement as much as his warning through the link.

She ignored the latter.

"You didn't answer the question," she asked, not responding at all to anything else he implied.

Harry hesitated briefly, eyes on her before shaking his head and looking down at the data pad. He began flicking the hard-light projection buttons, his eyes narrowing in concentration as he worked. Ahsoka leaned over the pad in curiosity and saw he's copying files, some of them specific items and others were entire directories.

She looked over to see Harry giving her an eyebrow raised in amusement, and then realized she was practically toppling over him in her efforts to satiate her curiosity.

That and her chest was practically touching his nose after he turned his head to stare up at her.

Blushing, Ahsoka sat back slowly in the chair behind him and mumbled an apology. Harry, for his part, just rolled his eyes at her oblivious exuberance and expanded the seat he sat on to allow her just enough room to sit, then pulled her across the aisle to sit down next to him..

He gave her nearest montral a comforting pat, which made her blush in embarrassment as she felt the comforting waves of affection and appreciation Harry held towards her at that moment for being so insistent on helping with his problems.

Harry gave her a teasing grin and pulled his face into what he no doubt saw as a 'sage expression', "Patience, young one, patienc-oof!"

Harry rubbed his shoulder where she had firmly elbowed, and gave her a mock-offended look

"Trying to sound like the Jedi Council?" said Ahsoka as she grimaced.

"Oooh. Low blow." Harry replied, grinning.

Ahsoka could _feel_ Harry resisting the urge to chuckle after he said that and narrowed her eyes in response, especially after that obviously affected accent he'd first used, "I know you well enough that you have no room saying that anyways."

"Hmmm?" Harry hummed at her, fingers still sliding and tapping on the data pad as he eyed his apprentice.

Ahsoka gave him an evil grin, "Uh huh, and I'm betting that if I told...Tonks that you said that, she'd have _plenty_ of stories to back me up."

Her smirk got wider as she watched his eyes grew comically large, before he shook his head.

Finding some sudden inspiration, Ahsoka gave him an imperiously raised eyebrow based on the one she'd seen Daphne giving a time or two and actually saw him _shiver_, although the effect was quickly ruined since she knew he could feel her satisfaction through the bond.

Deciding to quit while she was most certainly ahead, she asked, "Now, unless there are any more...distractions, you didn't answer my question."

"What was your question?" Harry parroted, having honestly forgotten over the course of their banter.

"Have you figured out what the slicer found?" Ahsoka asked, more than a trace of impatience. Though she could tell by Harry's look that he wouldn't let her previous teasing go for long.

Ah well, no pain no gain as Skyguy liked to say… right before he gave her another exercise to do but still, he had been right about that.

"Yes, that," she said as his eyes widened a bit in realization. "Now, chop-chop. I know I'm as likely to get a chance at some alone time with that datapad as Dobby is to let me cook for a week straight, but couldn't you copy them? Isn't it the human saying that two heads are better than one?"

Harry gave a belly laugh right after that matched the mirth Ahsoka got from their bond, "What is so funny?" she huffed, crossing her arms under her bosom.

"Oh, you know. One of Dora and Daphne's longest running arguments. Stupidity is singular, but never underestimate the power of idiocy on a large scale," Harry replied with a grin.

"They had many the row over that," although he did slide another datapad out of small drawer next to their expanded chair/bench and began to fiddle with both.

Ahsoka shook her head as she tried to imagine the argument in question, from her limited interactions with the paintings she found everything Harry said to be entirely too plausible, no matter how ridiculous much of it sounded.

The idea that he had been thrown forward in time because some fatty food corrupted a potion was probably the silliest thing she had ever heard.

Harry glanced down when he heard the beep sound from both datapads, and nodded when he saw the transfer had been complete. Leaving the one he'd been working on in his lap, he picked up the second one and tossed it to Ahsoka.

"Here you are. I've isolated and marked the parts I've been able to decipher. But a lot of it seems like its expenditure reports, along with shipping schedules and manifests. There's more, but I'm still reading."

Harry waved toward the data pad he'd tossed at her, "On the other hand, if you notice something that I missed, feel free to point it out. Up to you really, the slicer really didn't have the most logical organizational system. Now I know how Dobby feels trying to organize my stuff."

Knowing full well that Dobby loved to clean up the messes as much as Harry liked making them Ahsoka shook her head fondly at the comment before beginning her dive into the sea of data they'd picked up on-planet

Her ruminations were cut by Aayla and Shaak Ti walking into the cockpit and arraying themselves on the seats across from Harry.

Harry noticed the hesitant expressions on their faces, which combined with their glances at the main console, gave him a pretty clear indication as to what they wanted. He sighed, not unkindly, "I take it you're here for permission to report to your Council?"

They both nodded and Shaak Ti said, "I know this is happening just the possibility of a… _leak_ was discussed." Her lips thinned in evident distaste of the idea of one of their own turning on them or a Dark Lord having access to their inner workings, "But considering the nature of the recent assaults, we have to tell the Council the Sith are on the move, along with their recent actions against us. We also need to confirm whether our orders remain the same in light of this."

Ahsoka frowned, and felt inclined to make her position absolutely clear to the two older women, "I hope you weren't including me in that 'us'. I'm Harry's apprentice and I'm not going anywhere."

"I meant us as in the four of us on the ship…" Shaak Ti corrected almost absently, "Either way, I feel the Council should be informed of the most recent sighting of Maul, and their focus upon Harry."

Harry's lips twisted in thought before nodding, "Okay, but I'll tell you up front I'm going to cut off the communication if I feel it threatens our safety. I don't want them knowing anything at all about why we were on Nar Shaddaa. But that fight with the robo-twins is certainly good for gossip."

Then, almost as an afterthought, he said, "And after you're done we're going to change the ship's vector. If you both need to go because of new orders, I can use one of the ships I've got stuffed in a sack back there somewhere and send the two of you on your way."

There were two different visible reactions to that statement.

Ahsoka smiled briefly, clearly pleased that, regardless of what the older women chose, the idea that Ahsoka would even ponder leaving wasn't in question.

Aayla on the other hand, pursed her lips thoughtfully at the words. She had already told Harry she was intent on coming with him that she wanted to learn from him. However, with the arrival of Shaak Ti, she had fallen into old habits. She hadn't done anything to learn anything more about magic since her initial arrival on Kashyyyk.

The almost daily observation of events and techniques that had absolutely shattered her worldview of the Force had almost become commonplace, and she had become complacent, focusing more on the silent awe she felt in the aftermath of Kashyyyk than she did on learning new basic skills.

Though, in her defense, she had been trying to work on the Occlumency skill that Harry had told her about and Ahsoka had been instructing her in. The ability to protect her mind something that was almost sacrosanct to her. Never again would she allow anything to negatively affect her mind, emotions, or memory. If for no other reason than that, she would do her absolute best to ensure she stayed on this trip, regardless of what the Council ordered.

Shaak Ti's reaction after some confusion at the idea of having ships stuffed into sacks, nevertheless was much more subdued, simply bowing her head in acceptance of Harry's demands.

Harry stood abruptly, and gestured Shaak Ti towards the comm with an overdone bow, before sitting down again at the seat in the back of the cockpit.

Ahsoka almost snorted as she could feel the amusement begin to roll off of Harry. It was like he knew he was going to be frustrating someone, or several someone's in the very near future. She wondered if he had some sort of magic sense for that.

If the last time Harry had spoken to Jedi Masters back on Coruscant was any indicator, having him present in the Cockpit during Master Ti and Aayla's report would surely be amusing if nothing else.

**oOooOoOOoOooOo**

Ahsoka alternated between staring out at space and staring down at the datapad. They were no longer in hyperspace. Instead they were drifting in space, not near any systems or heavily traveled lanes. After the connection with the Jedi Temple was broken, Harry had taken them out of hyperspace and proceeded to make three jumps of varying length, to put them nowhere close to the direction they had been traveling in. Then he had just dropped into empty space, without any chosen route or any chance someone would find them.

The odds of someone tracking them from eavesdropping on the call to the Council, let alone from four jumps back from Nar Shaddaa were essentially nil. Currently, they were about as safe as could be considering the sheer quantity of people now gunning for Harry's head, and through him, the rest of them.

Her own bounty seemed rather amusing at this point in comparison to Harry's.

She was making decent progress at reading through things, even if she didn't understand why some of the files were included.

Her eyes flicked up and saw Aayla reviewing the same files while Shaak Ti was reading encrypted reports sent to her in the communication with the temple.

Ahsoka was surprised that it was a surprisingly fast conversation. Yoda had been the only person in the Council chambers, though Obi-Wan had joined them shortly after. He had brought news of the bounty on Harry's head as well.

She was surprised that Obi-Wan looked… somewhat disheveled, practically run ragged, as if he'd been on extended assignment. He rarely looked that way while in the temple. Yoda, on the other hand looked the same as always.

Shaak Ti had delivered her report on Darth Maul, Savage Opress and Ventress with calm detachment and precision, detailing the increased fighting ability of the respective Sith and their outright disregard of their previous habits of keeping to the shadows.

Though Ahsoka was somewhat surprised that Shaak Ti had stated and focused upon the observation that Ventress seemed to have been intent on her own death. That the woman had been atypically reckless and made no move to survive. That, in the end, Shaak Ti reported their adversary had been stabbed through the stomach by Ahsoka in a lightsaber duel with a wound that no Jedi could hope to heal.

Ahsoka was caught completely off guard at Shaak Ti's complete omittance of Harry's healing ability or Ventress' continued survival. Not to mention herself and Harry's presence there in the cockpit, albeit out of visual range of the holocom.

She didn't need to glance at Harry to sense that he was feeling the same thing, along with a small dose of appreciation towards this break from tradition by the elder Togruta.

When Yoda had asked what their plan was, Shaak Ti had said that she preferred not to say it on a channel someone might intercept and eventually decode, but that they were likely to lay low for a while.

Ahsoka was further surprised when Obi-Wan agreed almost immediately to Shaak Ti's cautious approach. Apparently Harry's bounty hunter friend hadn't been exaggerating, at the very least about how fast word of the bounties had spread. All four of their descriptions had somehow been leaked, and they were being hunted actively as a group, with people hoping that any one of the three women might be able to lead prospective hunters straight to Harry.

The only consolation apparently was that all four were wanted 'alive'.

Before the call concluded, Yoda had changed Shaak Ti's assignment, and by implication Aayla's as well. They were to stay with Harry until further notice and act as protection, offering what aid they could grant while staying out of sight of whoever was behind the exorbitant price on their heads.

Harry had snorted softly but hadn't said anything in the background, a restraint which had Aayla watching him warily. She appreciated his forbearing of his usual verbal sarcasm, but had to wonder if that was due to his seeing no need to say anything, or if he doubted the sincerity of the alterations. She knew that if the Jedi knew he was present for the conversation that Harry was likely to be dragged into a much more drawn out conversation and a hastily arranged full-council meeting.

Shaak Ti and Aayla had signed off soon after that, but before they cut communications, Obi-Wan had told Shaak Ti to pass on to her that Anakin was very concerned for Ahsoka and hoped she could get in touch soon… and that he wasn't entirely certain that Anakin wasn't ready to declare war on the Hutts himself.

Not that that was a stretch for Ahsoka to imagine. The man detested the Hutts at the best of times, and while remaining professional, Ahsoka was somewhat flattered he was still so worried for her. She was also somewhat relieved to note that her old Master was okay. It was always a constant state of worry for her about him, as he seemed to be a trouble magnet that was in peril every time she turned around.

After they signed off, Ahsoka's thoughts hadn't immediately returned to her datapad, instead they swirl around her head in a whirlpool of introspection. She was initially distracted by the realization of exactly where she was, what she was doing, and just how far she'd come in roughly the past month since she'd joined the man sitting next to her. Looking back, she could recognize the absolute precipice she had stood upon after leaving the order, and just how bleak her rather hasty decision was to leave the safety and shelter of the Jedi could have made her life.

Now though, thanks to a surprising series of events, she was learning things she never thought possible, seeing things done she would never have believed to be true had she not been there, all while accompanied by the man who had saved her, and the two female Jedi who seemed to be as caught up as she was in events.

Once more, she found herself comparing Harry to her former master. It was true, she missed her old Master's cocky grin, and the absolute selfless way he threw himself into any danger if it meant saving even one innocent life, even if that 'life' was his droid R2-D2.

But he wasn't always the most patient at teaching, or one who would outright challenge her. She didn't miss the frustration of feeling like she was always obligated to do what she was told without question, or to find little sympathy when she expressed her troubles.

But, looking out of the corner of her eye at Harry, she realized she had found someone who fit both archetypes seamlessly while still managing to surprise her.

Harry was wise, knowledgeable, and yet had this mischievous streak that seemed to be simultaneously both the best and worst traits of both Anakin and Obi-Wan blended together in a uniquely irreverent cocktail.

He certainly had no qualms risking his own life saving others, demonstrated repeatedly since they'd come into contact with one another from literally the moment they met.

But in the complete contrast to aforementioned Jedi Masters, he didn't seem to care what anyone thought about him in any way, good or ill. Didn't mind not having an answer or looking stupid even if he could easily pass it off or throw out a smoke screen.

And… unlike her former Master, there was something _more_ that drew her to Harry, something _captivating_.

She shook her head of that thought and focused on the datapad in front of her, rereading the same file she'd already read four times.

"This… makes no sense," Ahsoka huffed with some frustration as she swiped through the datapad with ill-hidden annoyance.

Harry glanced up at her from his workstation, where he had a larger screen showing multiple files open at once, displaying the data from the slicer's files. He reached up and rubbed the bridge of his nose lightly before sighing, "I admit I'm not seeing what in the galaxy the slicer found. This just looks like… a lot of transport files, and unless the dates are wrong, these are all decades old. I admit I can't find what the slicer was worked up about, or how it might have pertained to what I asked her to look for."

Ahsoka pressed a knuckle to her forehead in an effort to negate some of the headache that was building there. "And that could mean anything. For all we know, some rich boomba doesn't want their dirty laundry aired about their Hutt mistress and is making up for sloppy work done years ago."

Harry's brows raised as he listened to his apprentice's rather amusing rant, taking the unspoken offer of a break to look her in the eyes, "A Hutt mistress… _really?" _

Ahsoka gave a small huff as she put her datapad down, his amusement infectious and taking the sting of the frustration away from her thoughts. Shaak Ti's amused grin and Aayla's near silent chuckles didn't help either, "It was the first thing that came to mind, blame Obi-wan for bringing them up earlier if you must."

Ahsoka looked over those present, "The problem hasn't changed though, we don't have the context for not only what we have, but what we _don't_ have," she grumped, slumping back in her chair.

She'd gotten spoiled with Skyguy she decided. With him, there rarely was significant investigation needed on their missions and much more boom. Here Ahsoka was having to stretch mental muscles while Harry tended to provide booms without her input.

She really needed to find out how to make booms with her magic.

"Sometimes you work with what you're given." said Harry while giving a carefree shrug that Ahsoka knew wasn't as laissez-faire as he made it out to be, his own vexation creeping across their bond despite his best efforts to stamp it down in his own mind.

Ahsoka narrowed her eyes in thought, looking back down to the datapad in her hand for a few moments before looking back up, "Why don't we just ask…?" Her voice dropped slightly, not wanting to draw attention to her inquiry from Aayla or Shaak Ti and she trailed off making it obvious who she thought they should ask.

Harry shook his head, voice not dropping at all, "First and foremost, coming to rely on that is unwise. Secondly, as I said earlier, those that have passed over can't share the secrets of the living. So, while the files she found were hers to share, the solution and secret they hid were someone else's. Otherwise she would not have been killed."

"That hardly seems fair." Ahsoka pouted a little bit, reminded of those words from their earlier conversation.

"Life rarely is," Harry snorted in amusement at his apprentice's stymied enthusiasm.

"I think I've found it," Aayla's voice cut in between their murmured conversation with a definite excited exclamation. One that, at least to Ahsoka, hopefully promised discovery and vindication.

The recently restored blue Twi'lek moved over toward Harry, holding out the datapad while pointing toward the name of the file on it. After the fight at the docking bay, she had politely asked Harry to restore her natural color. Somewhat to her surprise he had simply waved his hand in her direction without so much as commenting.

Harry's eyes focused on the presented datapad's file, quickly pulling up the matching file on his own datapad, while Ahsoka practically leaned out of her seat to see, and copied the motion as she settled back in.

Aayla sat back down, closer to Harry and Ahsoka now. Ahsoka gave a small brow raise at the nearness of the Twi'lek Jedi to her master, considering how distant she'd started to become when Shaak Ti had entered the picture.

Harry murmured out loud as he read, "This is dated… nearly ninety-five years ago?" His voice grew a touch louder as he recited the relevant text for the room,

"Subject history: Unknown. Self identified as Serious Black during rare moments of consciousness. Suffers from virulent sickness damaging his organs. Damage is arrested and repaired by bacta submersion, however removing subject from bacta immediately begins cell degradation and organ failure occurs soon after. Subject's blood contains extremely high midichlorian count. Other genetic irregularities also present. Request for consult placed."

"That's it?" Ahsoka demanded as Harry got to the end of his reading, echoing some of the hope and anticipation she got from Harry.

Aayla nodded, "It's a medical report. A private one."

Harry nodded slowly as he absorbed that, his fingers accessing the next file in the directory. He scowled when he saw it was a shipping manifest.

He sighed in disgust, "Another shipping log," he said as his shoulders slumped.

Ahsoka cut him off, having already skipped to that file. "Yes, but it's a medical transport." she told him, refusing to let him give up just yet.

"How do you know?" Harry asked, with raised brows, unable to argue with the determination coming from the young Togrutan. He kept an eye on his own datapad as he followed her train of thought but let her take the lead, more than curious to see if she could find what he was missing.

"Required a standard set up for injured soldiers, the apparatus required for long distance bacta tank transport." Ahsoka explained as she continued to scan the files faster, caught up in the figurative hunt.

"This is dated almost fifteen years later, nearly sixty years ago," Harry replied, a trace of doubt in his voice. He didn't want to get his hopes up after years of failure and with the flexibility of magic, his mind had a hard time reconciling the two files.

"No she's right," Aayla countered thoughtfully, "That's pretty standard, albeit it's slightly dated. Procedures for that sort of thing haven't changed that much in the past few decades."

"And from the looks of it, that medical entry was attached to this manifest, so I would think that was why the slicer linked the two." Ahsoka said, picking up where Aayla left off.

Harry nodded slowly, examining the file once more, "Shipped from… a planet called Mygeeto, to Muunilinst. Hmm." Harry cut off thoughtfully.

"Muunilinst?" echoed Aayla, flicking to that file on her datapad, "The location of the headquarters of the InterGalactic Banking Clan?"

"The very same clan currently holding a massive amount of credits waiting to be paid out for my capture," Harry stated, his eyes narrowing as the plot thickened, uncertain whether it might be related or not.

"If these next few files are right though, and if he is the one who you're looking for, he's long gone from that planet. He was moved out with several other things under this… 'Origination' project file heading," Ahsoka stated, her eyes intent on her datapad as she searched other files for the next part of the trail.

Harry glanced up at her after flicking through the next several files, "These are dated nearly forty years later, less than 20 years ago. How do we have the faintest clue if it's the same person?"

"The longest anyone has survived in bacta in a vegetative state was eight years. The body's physical processes start to break down becoming dependent on the presence of bacta and functions begin to degrade." Aayla opined with narrowed eyes as she burrowed into the medical data and jargon, "If the dates are right on this, and it's the same person, he's spent at least… ten times that long submerged."

"So?" Harry inquired, unable to keep a small scowl off his face, his patience slipping with this latest reveal.

"I'm just pointing it out, I didn't want you not to be aware of the chances here. We might be chasing phantoms here," Aayla said with a trace of defensiveness, her uncertain fate on the ship strong in her mind but still willing to call Harry when he was getting grumpy.

"Wouldn't be the first time." Harry replied evenly in return, giving her a small nod of apology.

"Sithspit, this slicer was good." Ahsoka shook her head, unable to keep the admiration out of her voice, "She matched part numbers, connection requirements, as well as space and temperature needs to track this thing. These files are from a dozen different ships' computers. She tracked this container across four different shipping companies and fourteen separate transportation legs."

She'd known Jedi Masters with less deductive ability than it would have taken to put all of this together, let alone connect it so consistently.

Harry raised his brows, watching as the two flicked through information, while his reading speed was probably as fast as theirs, they absorbed technical details and minutiae with the speed of someone native to the technology.

Aayla was the first to speak up, "That's… strange." she murmured slowly, "The data trail ends with the item being shipped to this unexplored system," she tapped on her datapad with more urgency as she spoke.

"Does that mean something to you?" Harry asked, his attention focused on the twi'lek, picking up on the Jedi's intrigued tone and body language.

"No, I mean normally it wouldn't, considering I can't actually say I've ever travelled anywhere near the stops leading up to it on the manifest history. But these system coordinates are popping up in a lot of the other files I was looking at before I tried this folder," Aayla explained, her brow twisting in thought as she keyed up the ability to display multiple files simultaneously.

"Now that you mention it, I noticed the same thing." Ahsoka said slowly, her eyes widening as she shifted several files to verify, her excitement ringing clear.

Harry glanced back and forth between the two women ensconced in the datapads and then looked back down at his own. He began flicking through a few files experimentally, picking them at random from the rather huge amount of files the spirit had directed him towards.

Abruptly he got out of his chair and moved toward the front of the cockpit, sliding into the copilot's chair and punching up the information into the navigation.

Shaak Ti watched him curiously, having finished reviewing the files sent to her by the Order and decided that trying to catch up on her own would be a waste of time. She set down her own private datapad as she followed him to observe over his shoulders.

"Talk about your out of the way places," Harry mused as he looked at the information provided by his navigation charts. "This system is located in the Ojoster Sector out in the Outer Rim."

"Details are sparse from the expedition and census data I have, but this particular system is listed as uninhabited, and it's clear on the other side of the galaxy." Harry continued, then his eyes narrowed, "Republic charts don't seem to have any information on it at all, and according to the astrocharts I lifted a few months ago, the Confederacy has it marked as restricted."

That caused suspicious looks all around.

"Why would they have that restricted? It's well outside of Separatist controlled space, and it's so far on the ass end of space, it's of no strategic value," Ahsoka wondered aloud.

"More importantly," said Shaak Ti slowly. "Is why we are now having a repeat of the situation that occurred on Kamino? Why is there a system that is apparently in use by multiple shipping companies that has somehow never found its way into Republic star charts?"

"Or how was it deleted?" said Ahsoka, getting a sinking feeling.

"This is what your slicer stumbled upon," said Aayla, suddenly taking over the primary viewscreen and displaying dozens of highlighted records simultaneously. "She stumbled on something big here after tracing where Sirius ended up, and people didn't want her finding the rest of this."

If there was any doubt in Aayla at this point, the feeling of certainty she now received from the Force would have dispelled them. Aayla felt like the Force was literally singing in her ears, directing her along a path as she searched through the files and made connections and theories. Once more, she marveled at its clarity in proximity to one Harry Potter, and just how dark the universe had felt in retrospect prior to her coming near him.

The Force was definitely with her, and she felt elated. Almost as if she had been reunited with a long-lost friend.

"What do you mean?" Harry asked, turning in the pilot's chair to give her his full attention. "What else can you infer about this planet everything's going to?"

"These files she dug up. Many are from companies I haven't heard of or ones I know went under over a decade or more ago… there has to be _something _there_,_" Aayla brandished the datapad to emphasize her point. "Just… looking at the quantities of shipments in these manifests, whatever is being moved here, is massive in scope. I'm talking an entire military complex and support structures. This is the size of a planetary garrison, or at least something of that scale."

"And all of this is something someone has gone to great lengths to keep hidden," Ahsoka concluded in awe at the resources that this project seemed to have consumed. She'd thought that it would be a logistical nightmare to furnish any force or installation there...and apparently someone decided they didn't want to wake up from said nightmare with the extra expense to keep it under the radar,

"_Including the hefty price on our heads let's not forget,"_ Ahsoka reminded herself.

"So this is definitely something that should be investigated," Harry nodded firmly, his tone resolute.

"Agreed," Shaak Ti spoke up for the first time, "Whatever you've stumbled on needs to be looked into, although I urge caution in approaching this system. Just because it is hidden, does not mean it is not defended as well."

Harry nodded absently, only to sigh despondently a moment later, "We're going to have to take some precautions before we get underway. This ship is too widely known at this point."

He looked rather sad to Ahsoka's eyes, staring around the cockpit as if he may never see it again.

"Can't you change the color of the hull again?" asked Shaak Ti while gesturing towards Aayla, who just grumbled about having spent so much of their recent travels together in that distinct color of pink. "It's worked for us once. I see no reason why it would not continue to work in our favor."

Harry grimaced visibly at the suggestion, "I could, but given the fact that we did that on our visit to Nar Shaddaa, I'm going to guess that everyone is going to be looking for any ship model matching this, regardless of color. It would simply be too easy for those Sith Twins to let it be known where we were headed. Wouldn't take much additional effort to track it back to the ship. It's not worth the risk to repeat."

"Especially not when I can go back into the hold, pull out of those, uh… liberated... smuggler's ships, and then unshrink it outside the ship," Harry tapped his chin thoughtfully as he considered it.

"What happens to the Gryffindor then?" asked Ahsoka. "Just shrink that down?"

"Well… technically, I _might_ be able to. Problem is, there's too much magical stuff on board that would **not** take well to being shrunk." Here, Harry _really_ cringed. "I'd have to pretty much drain all of the runic arrays embedded into the structure of the ship. Which might actually collapse part of it anyway. If I don't want to destroy it, I might have to stash it."

"The problem is that I don't know where to stash the ship that's safe." Harry sighed in irritation.

"Why not put the ship back on Kashyyyk?" Aayla offered. "I think they'd have no problem holding it for you."

"Not without me putting a giant target there. They don't need Black Sun and everyone else focusing their energies on the wookiees." Harry shook his head as he sat down and keyed up the ship's computer, "Truthfully, any populated system is likely to face the same problem."

"And needs to be away from major space lanes," Aayla said as Harry continued flicking through the navigation system idly.

"If you don't want to destroy it, why not shut it down, keeping it depowered and just leave it here?" Ahsoka ventured. When Harry turned to look at her with a curious expression.

She gestured at the space in front of them. "We're in the middle of nowhere. No systems, spacelanes or anything else. No reason for anyone to stop out here and the chances of someone showing up here are nonexistent."

Harry narrowed his eyes in thought, but before he could say anything there was a flash behind him outside of the canopy, drawing the attention of all the people in the cockpit.

There in front of them hung another ship that had just dropped out of hyperspace.

As the Jedi immediately sprang into action, strapping themselves into their seats, Harry spun back around in the chair to face Ahsoka. "This… is clearly your fault."

**oOooOoOOoOooOo**

**Author's notes.**

**Wheee! I'm (we're) alive! And we are still writing! None of our stories are dead! As you can see. Another huge chapter! Lots of stuff happening!**

**1) Another fun chapter! We got to see quite a bit! Got to see some aftereffects and set ups for the future. A brief appearance by the Maul brothers. Harry's going to run into them again at some point. He was just a bit distracted at the time. **

**Any guesses on where they're headed next? :D Bonus points if you figure it out without google or the star wars wiki!**

**2) Ventress. I really like her character. She's a fascinating character study. I felt bad for her too. I also put elements from Mara Jade's issues in there, her Master having a hold on her and repeating things in her mind. Compulsions and the like. I also like Count Dooku's punishment :D I do not know what I'm going to do with her or what's going to happen. **

**Plums - Yes she does. I think the idea is amazing.**

**3) I will reiterate just because a girl shows up in the story, doesn't mean she'll end up involved with anyone, much less Harry :P Besides we're about to see some male characters get involved. If you haven't figured out at least one yet. Well. You haven't read closely :D **

**4) Plums Ponderings:**

**I suggested she add Ventress like a year ago, and Kat's initial gut reaction was:**

"_**Ewwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwwww!**_**"**

**Somewhere between then and now, some updated images of her got released for that Rebels show I think… with hair… and new yellow lightsabers. Oh, did i mention she has hair now? That's apparently enough for Kat to transfer someone from "ewww" to "meh".**

**Ventress**

**With Hair.**

_**She definitely will have hair in our story.**_

**Kat: Psh. I don't like the bald look. Call it a bias if you will. But I didn't like her unfinished character arc. **

**We fought a bit over the introduction of this next person right at the start of this, which is almost two years ago at this point. Kat REALLY wanted this person in there, so… there she is. She has a definite character arc in mind for her (at least she did at one point), so I would've put up a much bigger fight on this one if that hadn't been there.**

**Kat: LOL he totally thinks I have ANY sort of plan for ANYTHING! I don't. At all. **

**Finally, I like this overall solution we introduced for "The Shroud" much better than the lame crap one that was brought up to support it in the past few years in 'canon'. A Sith Temple underneath the Jedi Temple? Seriously? **

"**Let's build our place to teach children on top of the heart of evil of our enemies."**

**Granted, that does sound like something moronic that star wars writers would introduce, but not here on our watch, folks. Here, we're saying Palpy is strong enough to do the corruption and shrouding all on his own, and doesn't need a hidden temple of Sith debauchery underneath the Jedi's noses that mysteriously was forgotten about for millennia.**

**Seriously… dumbest… explanation… ever.**

**Besides Midichlorians, of course….**

**Alternative Chapter Titles:**

"**Darth Sidious discovers the pitfalls of apparating! " - Harry**

"Hey! It's not as easy as it looks!" - Palpatine.

"You splinched your ass!" a snickering Ahsoka

"Sureee… that's totally why he has a pain in his ass. Wink. Wink," - Harry Potter

"I hate you." - Palpatine

"Join the club. I hear they serve lunch on Thursdays." - Harry.

"We do! It's meatloaf! We have badges and a newsletter and everything" - Voldemort

"Go away. You're still not getting in this story." - Harry

*Pouts*- Voldemort

"**The loss of an apprentice is… painful." - Dooku**

"Or better yet! Ahsoka throws a beat down to Ventress. BOOYAH!" - Ahsoka

"You're a real pain the ass." - Ventress

"Don't you mean stomach?" - Ahsoka

"**In which Ahsoka proposes marriage to Harry. And a threesome." - Harry**

"That did not happen." - Ahsoka.

"Did so." - Harry

"Did not." - Ahsoka.

"Which one is supposed to be the mature one?" - Aayla

"**Ahsoka holds a lightsaber near Harry Potter's crotch." - Ahsoka**

"I happened to think that was a little bit extreme."- Harry.

"It got your attention didn't it?" - Ahsoka

"**It's Ahsoka's fault." - Harry**

"Is not." - Ahsoka

"Is too." - Harry

"Oh for force's sake. Not this again." - Aayla

"I fail to see why you're blaming me." - Ahsoka.

"I already explained to you about tempting fate and Mr. Murphy. Arseholes. And yet you continue to tempt them." - Harry

*evil cackling*- Fate

"See? That... totally your fault."- Harry

*Sighs*- Ahsoka.

"**What color am I this chapter?"** \- Aayla

"I dunno, I forget what color you are at any given point all the time." - Plums

"We just assume you're pink in general" - Kat

"Pink was getting boring anyway. I'll have to come up with something better!" - Harry

"**And Skywalker 'checks in', but is not seen"**

"When am I going to get some screen time here?" - Skywalker

"When you stop being a little bitch?" - Harry

"When your dialogue actually doesn't completely suck?" - Fans everywhere

"When you man up and take responsibility for knocking me up?" - Padme

"Oh, we forgot about her in this story, didn't we?" - Plums

"Nope. We just note that she's a senator from a planet that we are not visiting, nor care anything about. So no. She hasn't been in the story yet." Kat

"Much like Tatooine." - Plums

"Yes. A Star Wars story without a visit to Tatooine or without that planet playing any significant role whatsoever. It's possible folks!" - Kat

"Besides, any story where Anakin appears 'offscreen' and doesn't actually say anything is definitely better than the prequel movies were." - Plums

"Here here!" - Fans everywhere.

"**Plums has failed."**

"Obi-Wan was in this chapter, wasn't he?" - Plums

"Yes, indeed he was" - Kat

"He... he didn't say his catch-phrase." - Plums

"He was offscreen. I suppose you can imagine it was there." - Kat

"**A red-skinned, black-tattooed Sith was in the chapter and it wasn't Darth Talon. Fail." - Plums**

"I agree." - Harry

"Just do some color switching on Aayla and imagine it," - Ahsoka

"I knew there was a reason I liked you," - Harry

"Hey! I just got back to blue!" -Aayla

"For now." - Harry


	15. Hey Look, What's This!

**Chapter 15: "Hey Look, What's This?!"**

_Last Time:_

_There in front of them hung another ship that had just dropped out of hyperspace._

_As the Jedi immediately sprang into action, strapping themselves into their seats, Harry spun back around in the chair to face Ahsoka. "This… is clearly your fault."_

-o0o0o-

The sheer stupidity of Harry's statement was such a typical occurrence that all three women barely acknowledged it, firmly intent on getting the ship ready for possible combat.

Harry, for his part, was a bit more relaxed as he sat down, finding the situation more amusing than truly stressful. He sat down, glancing casually over the controls, his irritation at the surprise visit vanishing as he started to take in the style of craft that had apparently tracked them through the convoluted multi-jump course he'd plotted through hyperspace.

The ship in front of them wasn't a model that any of them were able to identify right away, though Aayla and Ahsoka both thought it looked like an older model of ship, dated quite a bit. It didn't _seem_ threatening, but they were all aware appearances could be deceiving.

"Someone aboard that ship can use the Force," Shaak Ti said, dumping a bucket of figurative water upon all those present.

"I am going to take a shot in the dark and guess that's how they tracked us," mused Harry. "I wonder how though?"

"Their weapons aren't powered," interjected Aayla as she went through the results of the ship's scans.

"Nor have they raised shields," added Ahsoka. "I've already started plotting a hyperspace vector."

"Anyone wanna take bets as to whether they're after me, Ahsoka's bounty, Jedi in general, or Ventress," said Harry, ignoring the reports said aloud, by the women around him in the cockpit.

"I advise caution," said Shaak Ti. "Although… I'm not sensing anything malicious from whoever is over there."

"Yeah, yeah," Harry said more than a little bit dismissively. There was as sudden bark from the white owl perched on the back of Harry's seat.

"Really? Even though I'm clearly not the only trouble magnet?" Harry asked the owl, to which Hedwig barked an affirmative again.

"Alright…" Harry said doubtfully.

"I disagree, I think that this is likely the fault of one of the Jedi. There are three of them. Thus the odds are that at least one of them is at fault," the Sorting hat interjected, "And I wager a new lining!"

A light began flashing on the console, drawing the eyes of everyone aboard to it.

"We're being hailed," Aayla commented unnecessarily.

"What are you wagering it against?" Harry demanded, seeming to ignore the flashing light, focusing his clearly suspicious eyes on the Hat.

"The Sword of Gryffindor." The Hat replied immediately.

"Nice try." Harry said, "With or without you, it still can be summoned by anyone deemed worthy."

"Help tutoring your new apprentice," the Sorting hat offered grumbling somewhat.

"Mr. Potter, perhaps you should answer the other ship's hail." Shaak Ti spoke up, only to be ignored.

"Alright, that works." Harry said, directing his comment at the Sorting Hat, and completely ignoring the Jedi Master.

"Dobby wants in on the action and thinks its Master Harry Potter's fault too!" Interjected the house elf as it appeared. "Dobby bets that Master Harry obeys Mistress Daphne painting and Miss Tonksy painting once each. No matters what they says."

"Traitor. Last time I did that, I managed to get drunk and-"

Harry broke off when he noticed that both Aayla and Ahsoka were looking at him with expressions that were far too interested. In fact Aayla was leaning in with such interest that Harry hadn't even noticed the way she'd provided him an ample glance straight down the front of her leather top.

"Okay, totally not the time," he said after clearing his throat. There was a snort of amusement from Ahsoka, and he knew this subject would come back and bite him later. "Fine. Let's get this show on the road."

He reached a hand toward the flashing light, flipping the sensor button beneath it to activate it while muttering, "Let's see what mess we got ourselves into this time."

A burst of static came over the cockpit speakers, and it resolved itself into a voice that was slightly off-pitch, but clearly female in origin.

"_-ay aboard the Mellonea to the rather elusive vessel I've been tracking for quite a while. I am looking for someone with a 'saving people thing'." _

Harry froze for a moment at that comment, though there was a triumphant bark from the avian behind him, He turned defensively toward the bird, "We don't know this is about me! Anyone could have copied or used that saying!"

"_The person I am searching for is a human male." _

"That could be anyo-" Harry started to say, only to be cut off.

"_With dark hair, vivid green eyes and who feels different in the Force than anyone I've ever met."_

"Uh… coincidence?" Harry offered weakly to the distinctly smug looking bird.

"Damnit. So much for new lining!" groused the sorting Hat.

"I will tells the Mistresses!" shouted a happy Dobby before he popped away.

"Just how many people are chasing you across the galaxy, Harry?" asked Ahsoka with a small bit of exasperation as she glanced over between her scans of the sensors.

"_Repeat, this is Jedi Master Fay aboard the Mellonea," _the voice began to repeat.

Harry didn't even bother to try and hide his confusion, "I have no idea who that is."

Aayla's expression was one of disbelief, while Shaak Ti's eyes were narrowed in thought.

Ahsoka looked puzzled before she gazed pointedly towards Shaak Ti and Aayla. "Jedi... Master Fay? I _know_ I've heard that name before."

Aayla shot her a look that was mostly exasperation, "You clearly did not pay attention in any of your Temple history lessons as a youngling. Skywalker clearly didn't mend the problem."

"No, Skyguy didn't teach much history. He was usually focused on more important lessons like 'how to stay alive'." Ahsoka retorted, sarcastically.

"I know of a Master Fay… Indeed most of the Order has at least heard of her. She's rather legendary." Shaak Ti said slowly, her brow furrowed. "I believed I crossed paths with her a long time ago."

She leaned back though, a contemplative tone to her voice, "Unfortunately, I vividly recall that the Council had been briefed by Master Kenobi that she had died after giving up her own life force to give him the strength to get back to the Republic with the cure to a biological weapon of mass destruction the Separatists had developed. It was called 'swamp gas' if I recall correctly."

"Huh. Small galaxy," Harry said, looking half-amused and half-thoughtful before his distraction was called out by Aayla.

"I believe you should respond if she's looking for you, Harry," she said, pointing at the button that would key open the open comm channel.

Harry gave Aayla a blank look, before he reached over and keyed the comm to respond to the hail. Suddenly, his tone of voice changed from the somewhat serious voice he had been using to something all three women recognized would lead to absolutely no good.

"Greetings!" his exuberant voice filled the entire cockpit, leading all three women in the cockpit to cringe in thought at what it must sound like on the other end of the comm.

"This may or may not be the no doubt devilishly handsome person you've apparently been stalk-, err... Tracking. Could you please elucidate upon what exactly you've been hunting me down for? If it's about a kid, I swear it can't possibly be mine, I'm pretty careful about that sort of thing."

Both the cockpit and comm speakers were silent after this statement.

The woman on the other ship responded first. _"I'm... sorry? Are you the human I'm looking for?" _

"Well, it depends on why you happen to be seeking this particular human?" Harry said, quirking his head as he stared at the ship through the canopy and ignoring what the woman had asked, "If you chased me down for a repeat performance because I blew your mind… then... maybe. I require pictures before I'll commit. Preferably nudes, but attractive sleepwear is also acceptable."

Shaak stared at him with a frozen expression, one eyebrow raised. Aayla was gaping with an open mouth. And then there was Ahsoka...

Harry was proud to say he'd induced a face-palm reaction from Ahsoka.

He had another retort on the tip of his tongue for Ahsoka's benefit, hoping to embarrass her even further, when the crackling of the speaker made everyone focus on the craft opposite them.

"_I highly doubt that anyone would have gone through the trouble I have just for that. Then again, all I have to compare it to is a hand on my chest. A brief groping under less than ideal circumstances is hardly something to judge on." _

"Well, despite the sense of humor she seems to possess I can tell you for certain that she's not lying about being a Jedi," Harry muttered thoughtfully.

"And how exactly do you know that?" Aayla asked with a bit of heat before immediately regretting it.

"All she has to compare to is my hand on her chest. No one but a Jedi is likely that repressed," Harry grinned shamelessly, ignoring his less than impressed audience.

"If she's had your hand on her chest, who is she then?" Ahsoka asked, her eyes slightly narrowed.

"Haven't the foggiest. It's not like even you haven't seen my hands on another woman's chest before," Harry admitted cheerfully, before he flicked the communication back on to speak.

Harry seemed to miss the spark of reaction on Ahsoka's face, but Aayla and Shaak Ti definitely didn't.

"Okay, so you at least have my attention," he said in a slightly less boisterous tone than he had previously used. "But if you haven't experienced more than my hands in order to judge my skills, and you're not looking for something to compare it to, what is it that you want?"

There was silence for a few moments, before a response was heard over the speakers, "_It is my experience that it is those who boast the most turn out to be the most… disappointing." _

The voice hesitated slightly, hinting that whatever discussion she was prepared for, _this_ was not it.

Harry didn't so much as bat an eye, he snorted, "Sweetheart, no one has ever accused me of being disappointing in a very _very_ long time."

"_Ah. So it has happened then?_" The woman's voice inquired in a mix between exasperation and amusement.

"Well, aside from uninformed aspersions on me by another Jedi a few weeks ago… not in a very long time." Harry glanced sideways at Shaak Ti with a deliberate wink before he was about to continue.

Thankfully, for all those not named Harry Potter, he was interrupted.

"Master Fay, this is Jedi Master Shaak Ti," the Togrutan spoke up, clearly fed up with Harry's childlike humor.

There was a pause and then her voice came back this time slightly cautious. "_Master... Ti. I have not encountered you in a long time. In fact I think the last time I saw you under any circumstances, you were a padawan in the Archives, assigned to refurbish old data card readers as punishment for a… discretion._"

"_Although, now that I am focusing… I _think_, I can sense the presence of at least one other Jedi in your immediate presence. Possibly two?_" Her voice sounded uncertain, and laced with surprise at that uncertainty.

Shaak Ti glanced at Harry, her stoic expression only marred by another raised eyebrow. Harry immediately gathered what she was inquiring.

"The wards," he said quietly, without broadcasting to the other ship. "Magic will always act somewhat strange around those who we believe mean us no harm. She probably can suddenly sense us because one or more of you trust her."

She nodded, then again flipped the comm back on, "Yes, I'm here with other Jedi. Our mutual acquaintance here has a habit of blundering into interesting events."

"Hey. I do _not_ blunder," Harry replied hotly.

"No, Mister Potter outgrew blundering a while ago. At least now he is somewhat graceful when he gives into his urge leap in with both fee-" the sorting hat interjected with amusement before his statement was cut off completely at the end with a flick of Harry's fingers.

"You should be careful," Ahsoka warned, taking the comments in stride. "Given the bounty out for you, this could be a trap of some sort."

"Yeah, like that doesn't get old the first hundred times you hear it," Harry muttered before he came to a decision. He stood up abruptly, opening the comm again briefly. "I'll see you in a moment Miss Fay."

He winked at Ahsoka before he headed out of the cockpit calling over his shoulder, "Dobby. Go ahead and bring Miss Fay over to the hold. Leave any weapons she might have behind. If she's going to cause trouble, you can always drag her out and dump her in space or something."

Dobby saluted and then disappeared with a pop.

Ahsoka was hot on Harry's heels, Aayla and Shaak Ti hesitated only a moment to exchange glances with each other before following.

They arrived in the cargo bay, just in time to see Dobby reappear with a woman in grey who had apparently been in a seated position because that's how she appeared, only she didn't have any chair to support her so she fell to the ground with a surprised "Oof!"

She sat up quickly, gaining her bearings, staring between Dobby and the space around her, "By the Force…"

Harry couldn't help but be amused by Dobby's direct interpretation of his orders as he took stock of the new arrival. She was pale skinned and had thick long blonde hair, He also noted what looked to be tattoos on her left cheek and her forehead. He also noted that her ears briefly pointed out from her hair before she had shifted to look around.

Ahsoka was torn between looking at the new arrival, and Harry, who stood there with his arms crossed and faint amusement on his face.

When the new arrivals eyes fell on Harry, she stared for a few long seconds before she immediately scrambled to her feet. "It _is_ you!" She exclaimed in an accusing tone while pointing at Harry.

"It _is _you!" Harry responded in a similar tone, pointing back at her.

That seemed to take the woman aback, and catch all the Jedi there off guard.

"You know who she is?" Aayla asked Harry, while Shaak Ti seemed intently focused on the woman.

"Yesss..." Harry drew out, looking at Aayla before speaking slowly as one might to a child. "Aayla, that is Jedi Master Fay."

"How do you know her?" Aayla asked in disbelief.

"Because she introduced herself to us like… two minutes ago," Harry said blankly.

Aayla closed her eyes for a moment and took a breath, "Yes… but that doesn't tell me why you reacted like that upon seeing her."

"Oh," Harry smiled brightly, "I thought that might be how her people performed greetings. I was being polite."

This time it was Aayla who face palmed.

"You're the one who saved my life." Fay spoke up as she stared at Harry, though there was more than a little hesitation now.

"Yeah… you might have to narrow that one down a little bit." Harry replied, scratching the back of his head sheepishly. "I don't suppose you have some more details?"

Fay's eyes narrowed a little, "I was stabbed in the back by a Sith and used the last of my life energy to allow another to complete a mission to stop a horrible virus."

At Harry's continued blank look, she suddenly seemed a little bit uncertain of herself, "It happened… nearly two years ago?

Harry's brow furrowed as he looked at her speculatively. "Still drawing a blank…"

"I know the feeling of your Force use, it's the very same I feel all around me right now. I've never felt another like it! The Force helped guide me here! It has to be you!" Fay responded allowing some frustration to escape, at Harry's still blank expression. "It happened on a volcanic planet."

Fay looked down for a moment, after her comment realizing that her savior may indeed have not only healed her injuries without expecting recompense, but actually did not want recognition or attention for having done something so memorable.

"Volcanic planet? Queyta?" he asked, looking hard at Master Fay for a few moments before realization started to dawn on his face. "Oh! Right, right! I mostly remember that place for being a bloody pain in the arse after I spent nearly eight hours pulling a galleon from a lava flow. Sorry! You look a lot different when you're not covered in ash and slightly smoldering. And when you're conscious. And standing. Not to mention not having a large hole in your chest."

Fay blinked. _Or not._

"Yes, we get the point Harry," Ahsoka interjected, when it looked like Harry might continue with descriptors.

"Right. So... You went through an awful lot of trouble to track me down… Although, I'll admit, I'd _very _much like to know how you managed that," Harry responded, his voice had a slight edge in it, enough to know that he was somewhat serious in this instance.

Fay hesitated as she looked at him. Something she didn't often do. Privately, she wondered if her pursuit this past long year had been a mistake, but realized that for centuries she had followed the Force and its guidance. Bereft of that she had felt at a loss and latched onto the one thing her gut told her to do, that she find this man and accompany him on his journey.

She glanced up, focusing on the visage of the man who had eluded her for so long. The Force finally told her many things as she allowed it to flow freely around her.

"Since I recovered the day after you saved my life, I have been at a quandary as to how to proceed. My skills as an arbiter, normally in high demand, were considered less and less important as this brutal war escalates. When I found myself alive, after resolving myself to passing into the Force… I…"

She hesitated to continue, struggling to find the words. All three women present could sense the turmoil present in the woman

When the silence actually became uncomfortable, Shaak Ti spoke hesitantly, "Master?"

Fay seemed to fold in on herself for a brief moment, then continued, "For a brief shining moment, as I passed into the Force before our friend here pulled me back, I could see past the Veil of Darkness that shrouds the galaxy. The future was not laid bare before me, but it was enough for me to know…"

When the ethereal woman didn't seem inclined to continue, Ahsoka asked before the growing annoyance she felt from Harry through their bond boiled over, "Know what, Master?"

The elf-like woman stared at Ahsoka intently before saying, "That the Galaxy as we know it is going to be broken."

"Unless you join me or I help you on some obscure heroic quest or something along those lines," Harry said sarcastically, "Please spare me, I've heard this song and dance before."

"What?" Fay's head lifted up as she scowled, "No. The breaking of the Galaxy is going to happen. It's already begun, broken in two. But it's going to be shattered. It's what the pieces will be reforged into that is in question."

Out of all of the people in the ship's hold, only Harry appeared completely unbothered by what Fay had just said.

"And I will be at the core of that?" Harry intoned, sounding disbelieving and irritated.

"You have one hell of an ego to assume something like that," Fay said with an undignified snort that did not quite feel right on her previously composed form.

Harry looked somewhat abashed at that, "Yeah well, you're talking to Fate's bitch. So, it wouldn't be the first time I've been told something like that. Hell, that's why she is here," he gestured over toward Aayla.

Fay blinked, glancing over at Aayla before shaking her head, "Truthfully I haven't the faintest clue. Anything is possible. You brought me back from the other side before I could see."

"Then... why did you seek me out?" Harry asked.

"Because you were different." Fay answered. "Your use of the Force… felt so different so… primal and so… untainted. I had never encountered something like it in my very long life. I wanted to find you and figure out why."

"It's the healthy libido," Harry said dryly.

"More like some venereal disease that hasn't been identified yet," muttered the Sorting Hat.

Harry ignored the comment from the Hat as he met Fay's eyes. "That still doesn't explain how you found us."

Fay stared at him for a few brief moments, then let her eyes wander to Ahsoka. She gestured briefly to the youngest female present and said, "It all starts, and ends, with young Miss Tano."

"For months, I have been trying to find the one who saved my life. There would be hints, whispers of your presence. Trails of your movements, both old and new, none of which led me anywhere. Not even a name. I always received information or guidance after the fact, without a way to reach you before you slipped off again"

"Then, Miss Tano encountered you," she said slowly moving to the side to lean against a wall and folder her arms over her chest. "The Council may believe that they are secure, but I've been around for long enough that I can get most information that passes through the Temple's upper echelons, even if they believed me to be dead. The description given for you piqued my interest."

"Then," she continued, interrupting Shaak Ti who looked to be about to say something, "There were further incidents. Knight Secura suddenly begins to orbit your presence, and, by reading between the lines of her admittedly contrite descriptions, it led me to believe, more and more, that the mysterious bounty hunter that had so… juvenilely and thoroughly insulted the Council may be the one who saved me."

She showed visible frustration then, "But, again, my information was always days late by the time I received it. I do not peruse or constantly keep myself updated with all the dealings and reports of the Council, so I was unaware of Shaak Ti's deployment to Kashyyyk until after you had left the planet, leaving devastation and chaos in your wake."

"Any doubts I may have had that you were the source of those energies was erased when you stopped that invasion. By that same token, whatever you did that changed the Force on a fundamental level, also allowed me to finally pinpoint you," she shrugged. "Once I did, I followed what little I could sense from you… even if it was quite subtle. It's faint, but one can sense the connection when one knows the feeling of the energies you command."

"I arrived at Nar Shaddaa just as you were leaving. I've followed that faint but distinctive Force presence of your connection ever since." She looked somewhat sheepish. "I admit I overshot you initially as I tracked you here and had to double-back."

"I haven't let a hint of my magical presence out, at least when I wasn't casting spells in a very long time." Harry's attention was focused as he considered her words, "I had to… it took a bit for me to figure out that I was sufficiently powerful that some wizards could track me… Or sense me coming anyway. Can you give me a bit better description of what you sensed?"

"I… don't know quite how to describe it. It's as if you were passively using the Force in a way you were not before." Master Fay replied. She didn't so much as bat an eye at his mention of Magic, to the surprise of the two other Jedi Masters present.

Harry didn't seem to notice either way. His face was set in concentration as he considered that, his gaze far-away and unfocused.

When he didn't speak up, Fay took the opportunity to do so, "Can you answer a few questions for me?"

"I don't understand," Harry muttered, ignoring her for a moment, "Even if my control slipped from time to time…not a _word_ Hat," he cut off the Sorting hat which had opened its mouth only to shut it as sheepishly as an animated piece of fabric could.

He looked away from the hat and ran a hand over his jaw without breaking his train of thought "The wards in the house would have hidden any time I wasn't casting magic on a large scale… But for me to be tracked… especially over such distances. That's something else… and I can't think of anything else that... has… changed."

He turned suddenly to look at Ahsoka as realization struck. "Oh… God damnit."

Ahsoka looked at Harry when she felt his emotions go through an extreme burst of turmoil. Anger, annoyance, finally setting upon… vindication and… a trace of mischief?

"I _knew_ this was your fault," Harry said with a resigned tone as he pointed at Ahsoka.

Ahsoka was taken aback by Harry's sudden assertion. Though a part of her was pleased that Aayla and Shaak Ti didn't even acknowledge the statement for more than a split second before turning back to Master Fay.

"I hope you have been somewhat careful while pursuing us, Master Fay," stated Shaak Ti, ignoring the pout that had appeared on Harry's face for being ignored. "Harry is now one of the most highly wanted individuals in the galaxy, and our proximity to him these past few weeks has led our own bounties to rise accordingly."

"No one will have pursued me," stated Fay emphatically. "First, no one knows I am alive. I didn't agree with the Order's role in the war to begin with, and the time away has allowed me to re-center myself in spite of all the death and chaos I have seen and felt."

"I am more concerned with your ability to track the connection between Ahsoka and myself," Harry said as he rubbed his chin. "Across multiple blind hyperspace jumps, at that."

"I think it was my familiarity with your… Force presence?" Fay ventured. "When you used it, you suffused my body, and my entire being with it. So I was far more familiar and sensitive to it when it was present. Even though I can passively sense it even now, specifically between yourself and Miss Tano… I doubt anyone else without the same familiarity could track you the way I did."

There was a pause before she continued, "Especially given the way… whatever it is that you recently did, seems to have completely changed the very fabric of the Force."

Harry seemed quite contemplative over what he'd heard, and Ahsoka could already feel the whirl of thoughts spinning around in his mind. Not wanting him to drift off in the middle of a conversation, especially around someone new, she attempted to commandeer control of the discussion.

But first she needed his attention.

She concentrated to send a magical nudge through the link to him, attempting to get his attention, which surprisingly worked the first time. When his eyes shifted to her, she said, "That's fine and good, and I'm sure you can spend hours, if not days working up a way to hide our presence, but we have a bigger problem at the moment."

With Harry gesturing for her to continue, she waved at Master Fay, "I know she believes that she wasn't followed, but I'm ascribing more to your 'Constant Vigilance' outlook on life, and think we really need to get out here and make a few hyperspace jumps. We may be in the middle of nowhere, but I'd rather be in another sector's nowhere."

"They grow up so fast," Harry sniffled and wiped a fake tear from his eye after a few moments of blankly staring at his apprentice.

Ahsoka rolled her eyes, ignoring him but wasn't surprised to see that Shaak Ti and Aayla agreed with the sentiment. No one was willing to take chances considering the size of the bounty on Harry's head along with their own respective prices due to their proximity to Harry.

"Master Fay?" asked Ahsoka. "I have no doubt Harry would not _truly_ mind if you came with us."

"_However_," Ahsoka said loudly, cutting off Harry's response to that statement, which she judged to be dramatic, but could only feel amusement and mischief through their link. So she felt comfortable ignoring it. "With the price on his head because of his actions at Kashyyyk, we have to be extremely cautious. Would you consider transferring your belongings over to this ship? I'm sure Harry would be able to temporarily store your ship for transit until the time comes when you decide to part ways with us."

"Not sure why the women in my life feel the overwhelming need to try and take charge," Harry muttered and wondering when exactly he had agreed to pick up another stray.

Ahsoka deliberately ignored him, though a small smirk graced her features at his comment.

"Store my ship?" Fay asked in confusion. "I don't believe I saw a docking bay large enough to fit my ship, although at my age you'd be surprised what I sometimes overlook. I'm fairly certain this isn't one of those cases."

The rather predatory look from Ahsoka, and the amused glances between Aayla and Shaak Ti did not settle her mind at all concerning the circumstances.

-o0o0o-

The sound of the airlock sealing shut had passed at least two minutes prior, and Fay was still staring wide-eyed at the ship in her hand. Harry had returned unharmed from the vacuum of space wearing only a light shirt and pants during his five minute excursion to shrink Fay's ship, but it was the fact she was holding a few hundred tons of metal in her hand without effort which had effectively halted her mind.

The rapid fire progression of impossible events had left the woman somewhat catatonic. A little creature who was clearly sentient and vividly reminded her of Yoda, but clearly was different, had packed up her ship after teleporting her over and back in under three minutes. Then Harry had absently wandered into the cockpit, looking out at her ship, then disappeared for a moment, reappeared outside the ship's hull.

Fay absently noticed he seemed to have some sort of form fitting bubble around him as he appeared to hang in space for several seconds before heading over to her ship. It was a matter, shrank her ship down into something that fit in the palm of her hand, then floated casually back to the ship. Even taking a moment to wave cheekily through the glass of the cockpit before apparating back inside.

"Brrr!" Harry said, stamping his feet dramatically as if he had just come in out of a cold winter day before he held up the ship to drop into Fay's hands. Though she was still frozen in surprise.

"Why did you do it that way?" Ahsoka asked curiously.

"I was feeling lazy and wanted to go for a stroll," Harry shrugged, as he reached out, physically lifted Fay's hands and deposited the ship into her hands, which she held and stared at reflexively.

"And had you been caught outside with your pants down when another ship jumped in from hyperspace, firing on us and hitting you because you were outside the shields? What would you have done then?" asked Aayla.

Harry looked thoughtful, "Well, I imagine I would have been a mite irritated, as well as gotten an epic scolding from Dobby."

All humor dropped from him, as his expression shifted and he slid into the captain's seat, already programming the computer. "We're leaving."

"Where are we headed?" Fay found herself asking absently as she examined the ship in her hands in wonder.

"Right now? Random directions in hyperspace for a few hours while I instruct my apprentice in how to hide her presence completely, which should hopefully keep anyone else from following us the same way you did," Harry answered without a backward glance.

"I will endeavor to remind you, that it was only my familiarity with _your _specific Force presence and how intimately familiar I am with it that I was able to accomplish this feat," Fay finally focused.

"Maybe, but unless you are absolutely certain no one could do the same, I'm not taking any chances," Harry answered, his hands shifting to a lever that he pushed forward, and the stars in front of the group streaked as the ship jumped into hyperspace, "And even if you were certain, I'd probably do it anyways, just to be on the safe side."

"That should keep us good for a few days." Harry pushed himself up from the captain's seat and turned to Ahsoka. "Alright, let's go get started, learning to do this usually takes a couple of weeks to a couple of months. So based on precedent, it will probably take you a few days."

"I think I'll learn how to do it today," Ahsoka said, standing up with a challenging grin on her face.

Harry's tone was dry, "An over achiever you may be, but I wouldn't bank on it all the time."

"I bet you I will," Ahsoka lifted her chin defiantly, though he had already turned to lead her out of the cockpit.

Harry looked back at her and his mouth twitched, "A bet? Be careful my apprentice; betting against a Marauder has been known to drive people to humiliation, insanity or death. Also has been known to turn hair greasy and almost universally make people experience massive feelings of inadequacy."

"So has betting against me," Ahsoka retorted as they left the cockpit.

"But…" Fay trailed off as she actually found herself at a loss for words before she turned beseechingly to the Twi'lek beside her.

Aayla gave her a sympathetic pat on the shoulder. "Yeah. He can have that effect on people. Welcome to the madhouse."

**OoooooooooooooOoooooooooooooO**

"Master Fay if you survived the altercation at Queyta why didn't you let the Council know you survived?" Aayla asked. "I'm sure they would have been pleased to know of your survival."

The two of them were currently sitting in the largest cargo hold of the ship, near the area of Harry's study. Harry and Ahsoka sat cross-legged on the couch and were staring at one another. The only sign that they were alive was the slight movement of their shoulders as they breathed.

Shaak Ti was present, but she was sitting a little ways away, with her attention only partially on their conversation. Instead she was still sifting through the large amount of files they had gotten from the slicer. She wanted to make sure they hadn't missed anything, and see if she could make any more sense of what they did have.

"Not to mention that your presence would have been an invaluable aid in the ongoing war," Aayla added after a few moment's consideration, her gaze flicking back and forth at random intervals between the newly arrived Jedi Master and where Harry and Ahsoka sat.

Fay's attention turned from observing the two with an openly curious expression to the Twi'lek Jedi as she smiled sadly, "Truthfully, I doubt that my presence would have made any difference."

"What are you talking about?" Aayla demanded, "You are revered in the Jedi Archives and among many Masters. You are credited with stopping innumerable disputes and even several _planetary_ wars without bloodshed."

"You can't tell me that wouldn't have been useful during this galaxy wide war!" Aayla finished heatedly.

Fay's eyebrow quirked upward, and an amused smile crossed her face. "My, such... _passion_."

Aayla flinched slightly, but her expression turned to puzzlement at the tone of the Jedi Master. It did not sound scolding or judgmental. Rather it sounded openly amused by the concept.

Fay's expression turned more serious. "And I'm afraid I must disagree with you. I was credited with solving conflicts where the two sides wanted peace. They didn't want war, didn't want their people, their loved ones to die. Not really. Not when there were alternatives. They just lacked the means to find common ground. The Force guided me to find them."

She sighed and looked down at the ship's deck. "That's not the case in this war. A war fought through proxies, droids, and clones. The ones driving this war, don't seem to have a direct stake in this war, at least in terms of lives spent. At times it seems that no one directly involved in this war who genuinely wants peace."

Fay turned her attention back to watching the two on the couch, "As to why I did not inform the Council. That… is slightly more complicated."

Aayla was surprised at how calmly and rationally the woman spoke, and she glanced over and noted that Shaak Ti had looked up from the datapad curiously.

"I have not felt right in many years. A darkness has spread on the Force. It has infected everything." Fay began, as she considered her words. "It was subtle and insidious at first. Working its way into everything we do. Everything we see."

"Since that happened, the guidance it has provided has been questionable. The hints and nudges in the Force that nudge your actions on a greater scale have become twisted by this darkness," she saw the understanding in the eyes of both of the Jedi before she continued. "The mission to Queyta became the final proof for me. Yes, it lead me there to help, but it also completely blinded me to the danger of getting stabbed in the back by one who was no more than petulant child. A half-trained acolyte that would have been cannon fodder for the Sith in the old wars."

"As I felt my life slipping away I felt something… wrong," Fay's voice filled with sick horror as she remembered it, her fists clenching and her eyes closing as she took a steadying breath. She either didn't notice or didn't care about both Aayla and Shaak Ti noting her loss of composure. "The Force which I had trusted and devoted myself to for so long, it seemed… darkly pleased…_amused, _at my passing."

"Instead of my sacrifice meaning something, instead of me helping people," her eyes opened and flashed at both women, "It was like my death… my entire existence was the butt of some galactic joke. Like the Force had lead me wrong and was pleased that it had resulted in my passing."

"That's when he showed up. I felt his power enter me. Fill me. Save me." Her eyes flicked over to Harry.

"Well. That clearly proves he can't hear us right now," Aayla muttered after a few moments silence, her mind automatically flicking to all the jokes and innuendos her mind came up with out of that phrasing, and shuddered at what Harry might manage to come up with. Then she inwardly cursed at the effect he was having on her as her mind came up with all those

"It was… pure?" Fay said in a questioning manner, unsure as to whether the words were adequately describing feeling she had experienced and ignoring Aayla's muttered words.

"Not only was it different than anything I have ever remembered feeling in my long life. It had no trace of the darkness that had filled my senses for… years," she finally finished. "And in that moment I realized… just how tainted the Force had become."

She looked at the two Jedi seriously. "When you are around something long enough, your perception gets distorted. You don't realize how bad things really are. You lose all perspective."

Her eyes narrowed as she focused on Harry once more, "But he was gone before I could speak with him. Before I could ask how anything he had done was possible."

"Some men love 'em and leave them. Harry always tends to be one who saves 'em and _tries_ to leave them," Tonks quipped, her painting suddenly coming alive.

That caused Fay to physically start backwards, only barely managing not to tumble out of the chair she was sitting in. She regained her balance and stood up, stepping forward. "What…?"

"That's Tonks, one of Harry's wives. Well... deceased wives. Yes, it's a painting, apparently a 'magic' one," Aayla said, and then cringed slightly as she heard in her own voice that condescension Harry mentioned whenever she talked about magic.

Daphne's painting seemed to come to life as well, "My my. Harry is collecting quite the number of strays isn't he?"

"They bear a remarkable similarity to simulacrums," Shaak Ti commented as Fay strode forward to get a closer look at the two portraits then stopped as she got near the couch, realizing she might be stepping into personal space of Harry and Ahsoka. She looked down at them, unsure for a moment.

Tonks chuckled and spoke up, "Oh don't mind them. Didn't ask exactly what they're doing, but given that it's something to do with occlumency, I'm going to guess Harry's deep enough that he won't realize anything that's happening around him unless someone smacks him. Hard."

"She means that quite literally," Daphne said dryly. "Our daughter set fire to his hair once as he was teaching it."

Tonks snickered a little bit, "He confused so many people when he showed up to a party that night completely bald."

"May I ask how you work? If you can tell me?" Fay inquired.

Daphne rolled her eyes, "Another bright one, I see."

"It's very simple." Tonks said, her voice sounding very solemn before she smiled and said brightly, "Magic!"

Aayla face palmed immediately, an action she realized she was doing more and more lately. However, Fay just regarded her evenly and considered the statement. The paintings watched her curiously as her gaze seemed to go from them, to Harry and Ahsoka who were stuck in their staring contest, then back to Aayla who was just shaking her head, and Shaak Ti who had gone back to the datapad.

Fay was at a bit of a loss, but was doing her best to process as she learned more and more. She had not foreseen much about him, which was why he was so difficult to locate. She certainly had not foreseen other Jedi surrounding him, although now that she was here, she realized their paths seemed to be just as interwoven with his as her own.

The younger Togrutan before her seemed most intertwined with his path. The girl, a teenager who had her life turned upside by galactic events, had found a rock in this mysterious man and had firmly settled upon it for the duration. The Twi'lek was another who had been battered by the storm of her service to the Order, yet had come out whole for the most part. Her path, while not as firmly set as the youngest, was almost nearly there and would require only the smallest push to equalize completely with theirs.

Then there was the eldest, a member of the current Jedi High Council. Her path, while close to mirroring the younger two females, seemed to be waiting for something else before it firmly committed to the maelstrom represented by her savior. Fay wasn't sure what it was. An Event, a decision, or maybe a person. Whatever it was, the locus had not been encountered yet, so the elder Togrutan was merely travelling parallel to the younger trio's path, but not upon it.

These flashes of insight came to Fay in the time between heartbeats, however her mental processes were interrupted. By the sound of a loud feminine groan from behind a stack of trunks.

"Ah, it seems our patient is waking up," Harry's voice came suddenly, as he stood up brightly. "Good thing I set an alert charm, or we might have missed it."

Ahsoka was blinking rapidly and put her hand to her head briefly. "Wow, that's still a little disorienting."

"What was that…?" Fay began to say, before she finally focused her attention upon the energies of the person she had previously not noticed hidden behind a stack of rectangular storage boxes. They seemed familiar but… not.

Harry stood up and headed over, to the trunks, glancing back at Ahsoka who was still sitting on the couch, and "Coming? She might want to see a familiar face when she wakes up… I mean… I'm totally okay being a welcome committee all by myself and all but-"

"No, no it's okay." Ahsoka scrambled off the couch, a bit awkwardly out of the cross-legged position to follow him. She didn't want the girl possibly more mentally scarred by whatever randomness Harry happened to come up with. Especially after such a traumatic injury.

Shaak Ti resisted the urge to follow, as she had found something in the datapad that had caught her interest.

Of course Ahsoka's scramble to follow him was accompanied by Aayla, Fay following a moment later out of curiosity.

She came around wall of trunks and jerked to a stop.

For a moment she stared, not comprehending what this individual could be doing here. She of course recognized Asajj Ventress.

"What is _she_ doing here?" she couldn't help but blurt out, losing a good deal of her composure at the sight of what she knew to be a Sith Assassin.

"Oh," said Harry, looking up absently at her before back down at the woman who shifted and groaned again. "We picked up another... Jedi-type... person right before you found us."

"She is the one who nearly killed me Quetya!" Fay said in disbelief. "She stabbed me through the chest."

Ahsoka looked from her position beside the raised cot where Ventress lay, and then over to where Fay looked accusingly at the woman who hadn't yet regained full consciousness, but was working toward it. For some reason, which she later blamed on Harry, the words spilled forth from her mouth without hesitation.

"Err, awkwarrrddd."

She slapped her hand over her mouth the moment the words left her, but the damage appeared to have been done. Aayla sent an annoyed glare at her, while Fay gazed at her in disbelief.

Harry, on the other hand… he actually snorted and then laughed out loud, giving her an approving grin.

Somehow… that did not make it better.

"Small galaxy," Harry offered after seeing Fay's expression before he began to poke and prod at different points on Ventress rather insistently.

"Checking to make sure she's all healed?" Ahsoka asked, trying to change the topic away from Fay's clearly negative past interaction with Ventress.

"What?" Harry looked up at her, "No. She's fine. I'm just trying to wake her up. Poking someone insistently and at random is annoying enough to do it without the harsh shock administered by a pitcher of cold water."

At Ahsoka's irritated glance he smirked slightly, "I figure waking her up with a jolt when she was last in a combat situation might not be the best of ideas."

Ahsoka's response was interrupted by the poked woman, as she seemed to come alive, lashing out with her legs. Harry hopped back from the swiping leg, but Ventress managed to kick the unsuspecting Ahsoka in the stomach while spinning off the table and jumping back into a defensive stance.

Ahsoka fell back with an 'oof', holding her midsection, though she was caught off guard, she was surprised that it didn't hurt _more_. Then realizing the enchanted armor Harry made her wear had absorbed a good deal of the blow.

Aayla reacted instantly, but not aggressively. She merely took a single step forward, withdrew her lightsaber, and held a quiet defensive posture while observing the still dazed Ventress.

Ventress felt at her sides for her lightsabers before looking around at first looking for an exit strategy. Slowly, the current situation registered in her mind, no doubt trying to reconcile the last few things she remembered with her present state and the feelings she was currently receiving from the Force.

She looked at her hand, slowly opening and closing her hand before her eyes, "I'm… not dead?"

It was as much a statement as it was a question to all present.

"You sound disappointed, I guess we could offer to remedy that if you really want," Harry offered with a grin. "Although, I'd admit Ahsoka would probably be pretty darn upset, and I'd feel right annoyed about all that work I put into putting you back together going for naught. That would be irritating."

"Not helping!" Ahsoka snapped at him, before she straightened and held her hands up in a show that she meant no harm.

"We… were fighting…" Ventress whispered slowly, her face scrunched up as she struggled to remember what had happened. The banter between Harry and Ahsoka did not even register to her.

Suddenly, her vivid blue eyes focused on Ahsoka.

"You stabbed me."

The words were not an accusation, merely a statement. Asajj's hands went down to her stomach and felt over the area of her wound. Her eyes widened in disbelief before she looked up, confusion once more on her face.

"How long was I out?" she asked.

Ahsoka glanced at Harry, who regarded her without comment. It was as clear a statement that that he intended for Ahsoka to take the lead.

"Um… about a day? Give or take…" she shrugged.

"Impossible… for that sort of injury, even Bacta would have taken weeks…" Ventress trailed off as her hands went to her head and her eyes grew very wide

"Congratulations, you've left the Matrix," Harry said with massive grin. "Those darn red pills are a doozy."

Ventress looked at Harry strangely, but Ahsoka just rolled her eyes, "Don't worry, you'll get used to him… maybe."

"Dooku," Ventress said slowly, her voice suddenly laced with emotion. "He's not in my head. I can't feel his suggestions. Is he dead?"

Ahsoka shrugged before she gestured towards Harry, "No idea if that old man is dead. But my new Master, Harry, is the one you can thank for getting all that icky Sith stuff outta your head and the rest of your body."

"I suppose it's _possible_ he died, if the little memory I sent him when I broke that nasty slave hold stopped his heart or gave him an aneurysm or something," Harry mused, "Truthfully, I doubt it. He probably wished he was for a bit though. I guarantee what I did when I freed you wasn't pleasant for him."

Ventress glanced towards Harry, a disbelieving eyebrow hitched as she took in the man she had passed off as inconsequential while on Nar Shaddaa, and whom half of what he said thus far made sense, not giving her much yet to make her believe that initial assessment had been incorrect.

"You dissolved the Sith binding Dooku placed on me?" she asked slowly and there was no mistaking the doubt in her tone. There was also no mistaking the very soft tone of hope in her voice. She couldn't feel him.

"Yep," Harry said, popping the word with a smack of his lips. "Among other things too. Pulled a buncha creepy little doodads out of your head, chest, arms, and legs and… well, probably easier to say pretty much everywhere. I am relatively certain that you're probably a lot better off without."

Asajj looked again at her arms, the scarring from old implants gone as she ran fingers over unblemished skin.

"Why?" she asked focusing her question at Harry, as she took in a deep breath, trying to hold in obvious emotions. "Why save me?"

"You have Ahsoka to thank for that." Harry replied blandly as he pointed towards the young woman who was watching their interaction, "If it had been just me I wouldn't have bothered. I've generally learned that trying to help people who try to kill me constitutes a poor life choice on my part."

"However, when your apprentice begs you to save someone she feels she owes a debt, you generally don't ponder big heavy questions like that," Harry said, his tone serious for a moment before he brightened dramatically, "It's probably considered bad form. Maybe, I don't know. I'm still new to the whole Master-Apprentice thing."

"In my experience, it means you usually hate each other and the master tries to kill the apprentice from time to time either by circumstance, or occasionally directly." Ventress offered.

"Well, that… huh. That actually sounds a lot like my relationship with most of my old defense against the dark arts professors," Harry scratched the back of his head and glanced over at Ahsoka. "We won't be doing that."

When Ahsoka ignored him and just rolled her eyes, he focused back on Ventress, "So yes, you owe your life to her thinking she owed you. Personally I think that was canceled out by you attempting to kill her. But that's just me."

Asajj turned her eyes towards Ahsoka, who looked a bit sheepish, "I was upset. I didn't want you to die, especially after everything you did for me while I was on the run. Plus, I knew if anyone could save you, then it would be Harry."

Ventress looked to be about to say something, a biting retort or an angry shout, but she schooled herself. Her emotions seemed far more stable to all the Jedi present who had previously encountered the woman. The Sith implants and binding obviously had a much larger impact upon her psyche than they originally thought.

"Since when do you have a new Master?" Ventress asked. "Much less one that calls you an Apprentice rather than a Padawan?"

Ahsoka's face scrunched up as she considered that question for a moment, "Pretty much since I ran into him actually…"

"You mean since I saved your pretty little ass from bounty hunters at that bar," Harry scoffed with a roll of his eyes. "Which lead to me picking up a bunch of Jedi freeloaders who use me as a glorified taxi service. And eat up all my food. Not to mention constantly flirt and tempt me."

There was the sound of a smack as Aayla slapped Harry over the back of the head.

Harry didn't even flinch, continuing, "Then somehow ended up getting in a war, and managed to attract half the galaxy apparently now after my head. All of which I still blame you for," he said pointing at Ahsoka.

"I'm glad you think I have a pretty ass," Ahsoka said brightly, ignoring the rest of the griping, knowing that he was just teasing her, so she responded without missing a beat or even glancing over at him.

Harry was only caught short for a moment before he smirked and then deliberately tilted his body to change his line of sight and get a view, "Well, it _is_ a nice ass."

Ahsoka rolled her eyes, but didn't even seem taken aback, and didn't look back at him, though she couldn't stop the blush on her cheeks. She was getting better at bantering with him, but every time she matched him, he upped the ante. "I'm glad you appreciate it _Master_, but we're kind of in the middle of something."

"Oh alright." Harry grumbled, straightening up a little bit with a pout in his voice, though his eyes twinkled in mirth. "We can get back to discussing your ass in detail later."

"Suddenly," muttered Aayla, "I'm thrilled it's not my ass you're talking about for once."

"Or your boobs?" offered Ahsoka innocently.

"We can definitely spend some time talking about Blue's boobs later," added Harry with a nod, sounding like it was a discussion he was greatly looking forward to.

"So now what?" asked Ventress after silence descended upon the group after their tangent had ended. She was not even remotely sure of what to make of Ahsoka's behavior much less Harry's, so instead she focused on the more immediate concerns for her, "Am I your prisoner?"

"What makes you ask that?" Harry inquired, with amusement in his tone.

"Well, I see three Jedi I've previously fought standing in front of me, and I can sense a fourth." Ventress responded, her own tone dry, "Am I to be taken in for a _trial_ similar to the one Ahsoka received?"

"No," answered Harry. "I do believe Shaak Ti reported to the Council that Ahsoka stabbed and inflicted a mortal wound you when she gave her report after we left Nar Shaddaa."

"Stabbed?" Ventress was disbelieving and turned to the one familiar face for confirmation, meeting Ahsoka's eyes she asked, "Not captured?"

Ahsoka nodded, a smirk on her face. "If the old fuddies on the Council assumed you're dead when you're not… I don't think that's our problem."

"Why would she not report the truth?" asked Ventress, trying to look through the bulkheads of the ship towards where she could sort of sense Shaak Ti to be. Everything was different now, not just with the change to the Force but her own senses weren't distorted and shifted any longer.

"You'd have to get that out of Master Ti," said Ahsoka, then the sheepish look returned to her face. "The Council is acting a bit strange when it comes to my new Master, and Shaak Ti and Aayla are here to keep an eye on him."

"I am not," said Aayla insistently. When all three others looked to her, she said, "I'm here now because I wish to learn many of the same things you are, Ahsoka."

"I thought it was because you were finally coming to your senses and wanted to have that stick removed from yo-" Harry began, but Aayla put her hand over his mouth quickly.

"Not another word, Harry," Aayla said slowly, punctuating each word slowly.

Ventress seemed even more shocked by Aayla's behavior, and threw a quirked eyebrow towards Ahsoka.

"My new Master is…" Ahsoka trailed off, trying to find the proper words, before she tilted her head to one side. "I've heard someone say once that… crazy people are considered insane unless they're really smart or rich… then, they're 'eccentric'."

"He's a kriffing pervert," offered Aayla before she withdrew her hand from Harry's mouth with a yelp quickly wiping it on her pants. "Ew! Gross!"

"You know… that's not the usual reaction I get after licking a woman." Harry commented, sticking his bottom lip out in an exaggerated pout before he frowned, "Well… the gross part anyway. Being able to speak a magical language that makes your tongue vibrate tends to not ever lead to complaints."

Whatever the topic of the conversation would have been, stopped completely as all four women present seemed to visibly ponder the implications of what he said, or the implications of a vibrating tongue.

"Oh," said a smug Harry as he looked at Aayla, who had visibly blushed under his look. "Now who's the pervert?"

"Who are you?" demanded Ventress, apparently not quite used to Harry's brand of insanity and finally succumbing to the annoyance she felt from being ignored by the various Jedi present.

Harry turned his attention back to Ventress, pondered his response for a few moments, and then said, "I'm just an old man who's looking for someone. You're welcome to tag along if you want. The more the merrier… Dobby hasn't been this happy for ages with all the messes he's had to clean up."

"You're looking for someone," Ventress repeated, dumbfounded at the response.

She glanced at one of her former foes, Aayla Secura, who while still keeping a half an eye on Ventress, was more focused on giving Harry a dirty look for constantly besting her with innuendos. Then she turned her gaze upon the ancient Jedi, Fay, who Ventress swore she'd killed a few years back. The cold gaze the woman turned on her meant nothing to her, as she'd seen far worse from the Sith and some of the more fanatical members of the Nightsisters.

Finally, it left Ahsoka Tano, the padawan she'd aided in troubling times because it coincided with her own desires to flee, although that freedom was rather short lived. Now though, a new chance at freedom seemed to have presented itself, if she could continue in their presence without being turned over to the Republic for judgment on her past crimes.

"It's a long story." Ahsoka said.

Asajj Ventress looked around before focusing on Ahsoka, "I don't think I'm going anywhere."

**-o0o0o-**

"You wanted to see me?" Harry asked, flopping down casually in the chair in the cargo hold next to Shaak Ti where she and Aayla were both sitting and had been deep in discussion.

For a brief moment Shaak Ti marveled at Harry's ability to seem so relaxed and easy going despite the upheaval his life was in at the moment.

She looked behind him as Ahsoka and Ventress, a former padawan and former dark Jedi and Sith, were talking, with the former dark Jedi seemingly almost… unnaturally intent on whatever the two were talking about. While a distance away from them, a legendary Jedi Master, believed by all accounts to be dead, spoke with living paintings.

None of which had been in his life a little over a month earlier.

He seemed completely at ease with all this while being the most wanted man in the galaxy.

Shaak Ti ran her fingers over the side of her cheek and glanced at Aayla before focusing on Harry. "Aayla and I have found something in the files you showed us we believe to be pertinent."

"She found them, I merely agree with her initial analysis," Aayla interjected.

"Okay," Harry said, shifting the chair to look at the datapad rather than summoning his own and trying to follow along.

"Well, there were a lot more files on there than just pointing to that system. I found something else that stuck out to me," Shaak Ti said, shifting the datapad so he could read it.

Harry's eyes focused on the datapad presented to him with a furrowed brow, "I confess, I'm… not sure what I'm looking at," He confessed after a moment.

"Its reports of ships that had registered flight paths that stopped in the system you indicated we will be soon headed toward," Shaak Ti explained.

"Yeah…" Harry said, leadingly, his attention focused on her.

"Well, the hacker collected scattered reports from nearly twenty different systems, where different craft had registered a flight path intending to stop over in that system, during one of their jumps. And in nearly every case, the ships were never heard from again," Shaak Ti explained, summing up what she had found.

"Nearly every case?" Harry asked.

"One ship apparently had a brief holocom transmission to their company's headquarters which was cut off," Aayla interjected, she reached over and pressed a button on the datapad.

"Yes, we're running a bit behind, their refueling synthesizers are down. We're saving some time jumping. Coming out of hyperspace now, and should make it within five or six hours of initial time- what the kriff? It's a flee-" the transmission abruptly cut off into static.

"And their ship was never heard from again," Aayla finished.

Harry looked back and forth between the two of them, his expression intent, "What are you thinking?"

"I'm thinking that someone has set-up something in this out of the way system, someplace way off the beaten path that few are likely to stumble across, and they've got it blockaded. That last word could have been fleet," Shaak Ti answered calmly.

"Wouldn't someone… you know… notice a fleet just hanging out in some system?" Harry asked, rubbing his jawline.

"Not if it's in the middle of nowhere," Shaak Ti answered. "This place is the back end of space, near the unexplored regions. Unless you have a specific reason, you don't just go out there."

"I know… but I mean, wouldn't there be resupplies of food and fuel and stuff? That sort of thing-" Harry mused.

"Not if they're entirely droid ships. They could just float out there for years... possibly even decades," Aayla supplied. "And no one would know. And if they had something out there to guard..." her voice trailed off.

"So you're saying that we're headed into a trap?" Harry said, rubbing a hand over his face.

"It's very likely," Shaak Ti said calmly.

"Yes," Aayla spoke with certainty.

Harry pinched the bridge of his nose, his mind already racing ahead to conclusions, "And we can't just barge in there, even if my ship could take the pounding."

"Right," Aayla answered, "If whoever is guarding this doesn't want it in enemy hands, they'll destroy it before letting anyone get close."

"Especially if it involves this Dark Lord you all are worked up about," Harry added dryly.

Shaak Ti and Aayla exchanged a glance. They had each considered the possibility but they hadn't been certain or willing to voice it.

"What makes you say that, Harry?" Aayla asked carefully.

"Well, if it involves droid ships and you think a Dark Lord is in charge of those, it stands to reason. And," Harry's jaw clenched briefly as he broke off the rest of his comment with a grunt of irritation...

"And what?" Shaak Ti inquired.

"And, it's me. This is a perfect example of the Potter Effect in full force. This is one of the few things I genuinely believe my own ego is justified in believing. Of _course_ there's some stupidly evil dark arsehole that's going to be involved in this," Harry's voice was full of irritation, "It's just how my bloody luck works."

Harry stared off into space for a few moments, tapping his finger along the edge of the datapad. Eventually, he began to slowly speak.

"Alright, not going there isn't an option I'm willing to entertain. If there's a chance of finding what happened to Sirius, or actually finding him, I'm not passing it up," Harry rubbed his hand over his face.

"I agree," Aayla spoke up, causing Harry to look at her sharply. "I don't know anything about the person you're searching for. But if the Dark Lord, or even just someone high up in the Confederacy, has closed off a system, away from all eyes and it's in Republic and Separatists charts as restricted. He's hiding something big there."

"And if the Republic hasn't found it yet, this might be our chance to get a jump on the Dark Lord without him being any the wiser." Shaak Ti added.

"And the fact, that both the Republic and the Confederacy are seemingly colluding on this… finding that link may help us," said Aayla emphatically.

Harry nodded slowly, understanding their priorities and perspective so he rubbed his chin speculatively, "So, we need to get into the system unnoticed."

Aayla looked up at Harry, "I don't suppose you have some… magic way to get in without someone noticing do you?"

Harry was so focused with the thoughts that he made no comment on the way Aayla still slightly choked over the word magic.

"Yes, and no…" he responded steepling his fingers as he considered.

"I mean I can fully power up a notice-me-not on the ship. So noticing the ship itself is next to impossible unless a magic user is actively searching," Harry responded, tapping his cheek with his index finger slowly.

"Unless the Dark Lord is actually there, that's pretty unlikely, right?" Aayla asked.

"Right," Harry agreed before his brow furrowed, "However it only prevents the _ship_ from being noticed. If there is a fleet blasting anything that comes out of hyperspace we could still have a problem. I can stop them from noticing the ship itself, but not the fact that _something_ has come out of hyperspace. I haven't figured out how to get a spell to do that yet. Though admittedly it hasn't been high on my priority list by any means."

"If they know something has come out of hyperspace, but can't detect anything, they might assume there is a cloaked ship present…" Shaak Ti said, setting the datapad on her lap for a moment.

"Which would cause the fleet to probably notify someone at the least." Harry said unhappily.

"At the least, if whatever is there is supposed to be secret they might sacrifice it rather than risk anything being discovered," Aayla added darkly, rubbing her palms together slowly.

Harry nodded at the truth of that statement, not responding as all three fell into consideration of the problem at hand.

"What if…" Aayla started to venture, then looked up to see that both were looking at her attentively, she continued. "What if we didn't come out of hyperspace in orbit, but dropped out of hyperspace farther out and came in slowly?"

"Assuming there _is_ a fleet there, we have no idea how they are arrayed. They could be spread over the whole system or focused on the likely hyperspace exit vectors," Shaak Ti argued after a few seconds of consideration. "We have no idea where we could drop out that won't be covered by their scanners."

"No, she has a point…" Harry countered, causing both to look at him. "If we come out of hyperspace away from where their sensors can detect, and go to minimal power and go in at sublight speeds, we could do it."

"But if we come out at a point they happen to be covering, we still run into the same problem we were faced with originally." Shaak Ti stated, "Especially if they scattered probes throughout the system to help blanket it for coverage."

"Then we come out of hyperspace far outside the system, say twice the sensor range of any probe dropped at the edge of the system would be capable of detecting, at least to be safe." Harry answered.

Shaak Ti and Aayla glanced at one another, "At sublight speeds… that journey could take us… weeks, or a month... maybe more."

"Well, let me check my calendar… oh hey look. I just happen to have a completely clear schedule!" Harry said brightly, before his expression turned more serious. "My apprentice isn't going anywhere. Fay has apparently been looking for me for a while so I doubt she's in a hurry to leave. Ventress needs to lie low for the moment as she regains her equilibrium and figures out who she even is anymore. That just leaves you two."

"Do you want me to arrange for the two of you to head back? I can give you a ship that should get you back to Coruscant safely. We won't be able to stop mid-trip to let you out if you change your mind," his expression lacked any hint of teasing or joking as he regarded them. "I will however cast a spell on you to prevent you from communicating what we're up to because of the risk of it getting back to the Dark Lord."

"I told you I was coming with you," Aayla responded immediately, even her momentarily disquiet at the idea of that sort of spell not stopping her response. She lifted her chin slightly in defiance. "Besides, a chance to get a step ahead of the Dark Lord is worth a few months risk in terms of time."

Harry nodded slightly and then turned to look at Shaak Ti. She merely inclined her head, "I agree with Master Secura. A lead on the Dark Lord could be invaluable and is worth a few months of my time."

Harry nodded and glanced back at the datapad Shaak Ti had on her lap, "This works perfectly. We drop in deep space, come in far more slowly than they possibly expect. Hopefully slip in to find what's being hidden there and a lead on what happened to my godfather. No one will be surprised that I've disappeared, because everyone in the galaxy will assume I'm lying low with the bounty on my head anyway."

He clapped his hands, standing up, "Alright. I'm going to go lay in our new course."

"Do we have enough rations for a journey of that length?" Shaak Ti asked before Harry could make it more than a step.

Harry actually laughed, "Oh, most definitely. Knowing Dobby we probably have enough food and supplies to last us fifty years. You can confirm of course, but it's not something that even crossed my mind to worry about."

"Dobby is always being prepared for Master Harry Potter to go off and not remember to pack enough food," Dobby's voice came up from beneath the group. Everyone but Harry looked down to see the Elf wave up at them from beneath a grate before he disappeared with a pop.

"When I had time to prepare that happened like… two times… maybe three times max. And one of them doesn't count! It's not my fault my best friend's stomach was a bottomless pit!" Harry called out.

**-o0o0o-**

Palpatine cursed as he disconnected from a brief consultation with his apprentice who seemed to have finally recovered from being briefly indisposed a week earlier. There had been no progress on any front in that week, which was what was atypically frustrating for the Chancellor.

The set back at Kashyyyk still had a ways to go before the loss was made up for despite the droid factories pushing at full bore. It still took a significant amount of time to replace a large invasion fleet, and numerous resources earmarked for other projects had to be sacrificed to reclaim their lost positioning.

The problem with droid factories was that they could only work so fast, there wasn't much you could do to boost production. With the loss of that fleet, and without tipping his hand to other resources, a string of assaults along the Outer Rim had to be postponed for a period of at least a further two weeks to a month. And the destroyed ships wouldn't be replaced for quite likely another month after that.

Still, thankfully, the war had been mostly a stalemate and the Republic hadn't picked up more than two or three insignificant systems in the intervening time. The assault suggested by General Grievous on Rothana had paid immense dividends there. The Republic's ground forces were handicapped by the damage to the factory. Though, according to his most recent briefing, the factories would be ready to resume partial production in another seven to ten days, with full production possible in another week after that.

Privately he wondered if Dooku being indisposed had anything to do with the reported death of his apprentice. The Count had reported to him that he had felt his connection with Ventress cut painfully, and he could no longer sense her. To make matters more irritating, was that she didn't manage to capture the slicer that he wanted to get his hands on. However, at least Ventress reported the slicer's death, even if it had been his own former apprentice that had done the deed.

Palpatine still wondered how he had missed the ancient auditing systems associated to projects his old Master had initiated, and how the slicer managed to find them. Both were errors that were fixed now. And there had been not a trace of any of the data appearing on any system he had access to since. So whatever possible secrets the person might have stumbled on, Palpatine was confident they were still safely hidden.

Palpatine also had independent verification through the Jedi Council, as apparently Anakin's former padawan had dealt the fatal blow. It made him wonder if her power and skill might make her an appropriate acolyte if he could get a proper hold over her at some point. It might even help further empower the pull the Dark Side would have over Skywalker. He had filed that away in his mind for thought later because it tied into his biggest frustration.

The former padawan had disappeared off the face of the known galaxy. More importantly she had done so with the real target of his avarice. This 'Harry Potter' had not been sighted once since the largest bounty in recorded history had gone out. The man waltzed out of Nar Shaddaa like he didn't have a care in the world along with his companions and none of them had been seen since.

Bounty hunters were scouring the galaxy, but they weren't the only ones. Even the Galactic News had picked up the story, so literally everyone who glanced at the holonet knew about it. That, in of itself, had been another black-eye for Palpatine's regime, as the former Jedi who had been falsely accused of murder and treason, then later vindicated, was now being hunted by the dregs of the galaxy, and there wasn't a thing the Republic could technically do to aid their lost hero.

To make matters worse in Palpatine's eyes, even Anakin had unfortunately been caught on holocam privately commenting on his frustrations with the Republic and his own administration. Anakin's record as a hero now worked against Sidious, as the people loved Anakin, and it was a rather large hit against the image of a the strong but compassionate leader the Chancellor presented to everyone.

It wasn't exactly a blow, but it was a stain on his image that was irritating given the delicate balancing act he had carefully maintained for three decades.

And through all of this, was this Potter. Palpatine knew the man must be hiding, likely just avoiding any sign of civilization possible until the heat died down.

While, it would work with some of the casual hunters, and those without an information network, on the other hand, entire Hutt cartels and the Black Sun organization had devoted massive resources to tracking him down. They were fully prepared to do an in-depth search for him and patient enough to wait months, or even longer if they needed to achieve the prize he'd placed.

Sidious had to get his hands on the man. He was making strides as far as his control and skills with things like levitation and pushing and pulling. Control that had been shot when the Force had gone into an upheaval and had changed so dramatically. Palpatine had learned to manifest fire as well as teleport, and now considered them skills he was competent in, although occasional accidents notwithstanding. But he wanted to know what else was possible!

The Jedi council was worried about reports of things changing color around their padawans and other foolishness like that, things he was unconcerned with. Changing the color of a Jedi's hair would do nothing… it didn't represent true power. Power that would be his. But he would absolutely wring every secret from the man's mind and use it to cement his hold.

Palpatine just needed to find the blasted man.

His attention was diverted by a soft ding on one of the datapads on his desk. His eyes narrowed, as he examined it. It was from one of his passive spying techniques, embedded in software used in every medical center on the planet. Compiled in a secret database that only he knew of, and only he could access. It was amazing how often that information could become useful when interacting with a senator for one reason or another.

However there were a few people he had set up that necessitated notifications of any significance. So he examined the medical report with interest.

His eyes widened as he read the report, and his unhappy mood fled, at least temporarily. "Yes… yes. I can use this in so many ways."

He allowed himself a brief cackle of amusement as he began to plot to use the information he had just received.

**-o0o0o-**

Fay looked up from the book she was reading as she watched an energetic Ahsoka leading a bemused Harry out of one of the back rooms. They were having a discussion on something surrounding the concept of the teleportation ability that he had displayed, although she only caught parts of it.

Since she had joined this motley group upon their journey, Fay had split her time between asking questions and observing. At the moment, it was the observations that were far more interesting to her. She did not understand the dynamics present in this little group, in part because she didn't understand the person at the center of the maelstrom.

It wasn't his behavior that prevented her from understanding. As someone with numerous centuries of experience, she could easily recognize the behavior of someone who was utterly and completely comfortable with themselves, and didn't care what others thought about them. On the other hand, she had nearly instantly identified the almost instinctual behaviors designed to keep people at a distance.

As someone who had less than a handful of contemporaries, and none that she would consider close, Fay understood that inclination. It was a benefit of her Force connection and the distance inherent in the position of Jedi that allowed her to keep herself separate from people without losing her empathy for people.

But her current circumstances left her confused. With the Force moving around like a stormy ocean rather than remaining calm and still like the calm lake she had always associated with it, she was somewhat at a loss. She had long-since mastered the ability of foresight in the Force, allowing her to see events, and prepare for them. It was a skill that allowed her to mediate disputes and prevent or stop entire planets from devolving into war.

It was a skill that earned her recognition, and plaudits and then awe amongst the Jedi Order.

It was a skill that Harry Potter dismissed entirely.

Truth be told, she didn't blame him, and it was actually refreshing. Too much of the Order had long put stock into foresight and perception of the future. In her opinion it was why in the past decade or two the Order seemed to have floundered so much. They had come to rely on that ability and without it they were left far more vulnerable.

For years, she had sensed a great cataclysm coming; something that would split the very galaxy. For a while, she had thought the split between the Republic and the Separatists was that schism. She had realized, only in the moment before she was going to die that she had been wrong. It was nothing like what was to come.

Now, with the Force so utterly changed, Fay's ability to perceive such long term events was gone. Probably permanently. She could only get vague senses of what was to come now. She still believed that the galaxy was going to be split and be shattered into pieces in the process, although the method was far more uncertain that she would have ever believed.

But what she did know was that she had found the person who had saved her, and that he was like a gathering storm. The first winds of which had already been felt, and whose very nature… was going to change anything in its path.

But what interested her were the ones orbiting the storm. The youngest, while likely only recently attaining adulthood, was closest to the storm. In fact, while Fay did not think the young Togruta realized it, she was slowly taking on the attributes of her Master. The young woman seemed to be on the beginning steps to become a maelstrom in her own right, although one still linked to Harry.

What was even more interesting was that, while slowly being swept up in the storm, Ahsoka Tano also seemed to be the _catalyst_ for the growing storm. A dichotomy of roles that interested her to no end. She was simultaneously the spark behind the creation of a planet and its moon. A star and the celestial bodies around it while being a part of it.

That did not take a growing attraction and infatuation for the nearby older male that Fay observed in almost their every interaction. Whether or not the affection was one sided, she found harder to determine, but doubted it.

Aayla Secura was orbiting Harry at a farther distance, though she was slowly being drawn in. Fay believed that it was actually the twi'lek's fear that prevented her from getting closer to the man. Irony in that the Jedi Master was in a position that, either way she turned, she violated the current Jedi code.

Not that Fay was bothered by that, given that she had long disagreed with the stance of the current Council on the Code. It had issued doctrines and mandates that she had blithely ignored, finding herself content to let the Living Force guide. That it had brought her occasionally into deeper relationships that had lasted months and sometimes years made the possible two burgeoning relationships less scandalous to her than it would any other Jedi who had encountered it.

Shaak Ti was further away from the maelstrom that was Harry. Fay could tell that she was deeply interested in what the man could do, and wished to know more. But something was keeping the woman holding herself at a greater distance. Fay was uncertain what it was, though she doubted it was adherence to the Jedi Code as Shaak Ti didn't seem to be bothered by the attraction that was growing between Aayla and Harry, or Ahsoka and Harry for that matter, which she was almost certain that the older Togruta had noticed.

However, the Togruta Jedi Master spent most of her time meditating, and Fay had only a very few opportunities for any discussions with the woman. Weeks had passed on this trip without Shaak Ti saying more than an occasional greeting to Fay when they passed, otherwise the woman was more often than not in seclusion when she was not taking her shift at the helm of the ship.

It brought her to the last member, one she was far less eager to interact with. Fay kept her senses on Ventress at all times she was within any sort of proximity. She didn't think that was being unreasonable given the fact that the only other time they had encountered each other, the former Sith had plunged not one, but two lightsabers into her back and out through her chest.

At that time, Fay could sense that the woman was all rage. She had even said that Ventress was nothing but hate and bile given form. But that wasn't what she sensed from the woman now.

Now she sensed that Asajj Ventress wanted to be anything but the animal she had been forced to become by her former masters. Based on comments Ahsoka had made, the woman had started to try and redeem herself. Now… without the influence of the Sith, she was struggling with her emotions, and trying to master her own reactions. It was an interesting thing to observe, and an almost academic portion of Fay's mind thought it was an excellent case study in how someone could be pulled back from the abyss of the Dark Side.

Something she was sure that most of the vaunted minds of the current Order wouldn't even consider a possibility.

Now like so many other things, she had been swept up in the slowly gathering storm that was Ahsoka who was a smaller part of the larger storm that was Harry Potter. What came of it, not even Fay could guess.

But she desperately wanted to be part of it. To be part of events again. Events that weren't manipulated and actually having a chance of _mattering. _ She just wanted to better understand before she allowed herself to become part of something once more.

A smile slowly grew on her face. Understanding a living contradiction and self-described hypocrite named Harry Potter. Maybe that's why the Force ultimately led her here.

Because to her at least, Harry Potter may be mysterious. He may have a complicated past, shrouded in the darkness of the deepest secrets of the universe, but some things were absolutely plain to one such as her. Especially after she spent only a little time in the presence of the simulacrum paintings who were so insightful to the life and personality of the man.

Harry Potter was in pain, despite how he might present himself. He might deny it, then again he might not. The man seemed remarkably open about his faults and ills. Fay believed Ahsoka Tano was the balm for those ills. The presence of others, especially the running prank and insult war Aayla and he had ongoing between them, was helping whatever deeply rooted wounds that existed in the man's psyche, but Ahsoka was the one who had disturbed the pebbles that had started the avalanche.

Her smile grew further. Ahsoka may be the one to begin the healing process with this man, but Fay would do her best to ensure that the process succeeded. It was the least she could do for the man who had saved her life while asking nothing in return.

For the last few centuries, the Force had directed her to often save entire governments and planets from themselves. Now, she knew with absolute certainty that it had moved her to this spot so that she could help save a single good man from denying the very core of who he was. She could see that, somewhere in his past, he had purposefully slipped far from the contact of others and, if allowed, he might never return.

She would do what she could to ensure that this bright light in a very dark galaxy was not extinguished.

**-o0o0o-**

"Look, there's another group," Aayla commented from her position in the cockpit, as she sat in the pilot's chair.

"What does that make? Fourteen?" Ahsoka asked curiously from the copilot's chair, lounging back, she idly ran her fingers through Hedwig's feathers while the avian perched on her shoulder and in her hands was one of Harry's books, this one being on charms and effects.

She had been trying to read in the book, but kept getting distracted. She felt an odd sensation at the back of her mind. Something she had been feeling off and on for the past day or so, but couldn't seem to shake it. She had checked her occlumency and couldn't find anything wrong, and wondered if she had been pushing her magic use too far, so had decided to take a break, rest herself before they reached the planet, which would happen in a matter of hours.

Aayla nodded her head absentmindedly in response to Ahsoka's question as she went over the records from the only sensors Harry would allow them to run, as he was nearly certain they wouldn't be detected.

It had been almost six weeks since they had dropped out of hyperspace and headed in on sublight engines, firing only maneuvering thrusters briefly from time to time to keep them on course. It had been an interesting time for all involved.

Ahsoka had spent nearly every waking moment she had pestering Harry for more training or working on something he had given her. He seemed constantly amazed by her progress in some areas. Within almost every aspect of what he called the 'mind arts', she had developed leaps and bounds. Control of her mind was second nature at this point, and working with Harry determined she was getting better at the reading of minds with legilimency.

It was actually an exercise that Harry found interesting as well. When she prodded his defenses, he had discovered that he had to actively defend his mind, since his own protections didn't recognize her as any sort of intruder. That led to a whole discussion of theory on the impact of the apprentice bond between them and how that might be affecting their magic.

Transfiguration was also an art that seemed to come so easily to her. It just seemed instinctive and simple, 'Change object A into object B'. It wasn't until later she realized the progress she was making when Harry explained how effectively her mind was filling in details on those objects, like the internal workings of a hydrospanner she changed a plate into.

Harry had taught her to apparate, which was something Ahsoka found incredibly interesting. When Harry apparated her, it inevitably left her disoriented and queasy. It made her less inclined to do so, however she had grit her teeth and pushed herself until she could apparate.

It was an entirely different experience when she was in control of it. She felt in control the entire time, and it only took a few repetitions for her to get it. She knew where she was going to land, how she'd be oriented and what her surroundings would be.

Harry thought it might be something to do with her montrals, but wasn't certain, and they hadn't figured out a way to develop a test. At least not one that Harry wasn't worried that splinching would occur.

She found she appreciated that. She left several fingers behind the first time she had done it solo and had freaked out until Harry had hit her with a calming charm and then very calmly reattached said fingers. It had taken a long discussion about how a person's instinctive control of magic protected them from fatal injury so that she wasn't likely to leave behind her head or heart or something before she was willing to try again.

Watching Harry be chased around after he asked aloud if she could try and leave some clothes behind had certainly provided amusement to the group.

Harry had only known of one death from learning to apparate, and assured her that it didn't have anything to do with the actual apparating, but the fact the person had apparated himself into a nest of large spiders and didn't manage to apparate out again. And Harry had put up a field around the ship to prevent her from apparating out. That reassured her somewhat.

Ahsoka glanced over to the side at Aayla once more.

Aayla had managed significant steps in occlumency. Harry had been impressed with her progress, though she was far slower than Ahsoka had been, but she focused on completing it almost fanatically. She had continually gone to Harry for help and tips and to have him test the protections on her mind.

Ahsoka had been fully prepared for that to drive the Twi'lek insane. During Ahsoka's training and teaching Harry had constantly prodded and teased her, in part because it had become how they interacted, but also in order to motivate her. She knew that Aayla would be much more vulnerable about the weakness she was so concerned about.

The sanctity of Aayla's mind was one of the few things the woman was extremely protective of.

Instead Aayla had confided to Ahsoka that Harry had been nothing but considerate. That he had clearly seen how important it was to her and had encouraged her and answered questions. He'd also tested her defenses regularly, and didn't taunt her no matter what he had seen in her mind.

He was also there with Aayla as she dealt with the processing of everything in her mind. Much like he had been for Ahsoka. Although there was no instance of Aayla blowing up a room like Ahsoka had, the Twi'lek's emotions had nearly gone out of control several times. Harry was sympathetic and worked to try to fill in the blank spots she found in her memories, a relic of a period in her life when her identity had been wiped by glytteral. He was understanding and gave her a shoulder to cry on as she processed those emotions of utter violation she had never truly comprehended before.

At least as far as Ahsoka knew or that Aayla had confided in her. However Ahsoka did find it interesting that after every session Harry worked with Aayla, the twi'lek left trying to hide a blush of embarrassment, while Harry had a quietly amused smile on his face when Aayla was out of sight.

Ahsoka managed to suppress her initial reaction to that information. Though she was relatively certain that the Jedi Master was not consciously aware of it, it was clear that the older woman was developing feelings for the human wizard.

A position Ahsoka could sympathize with.

Despite her age compared to those around her, Ahsoka was not a fool. For years, she had seen Jedi flaunt the code, and sometimes utterly destroy the principals and restrictions they were expected to live by. Time and time again, Jedi violated it, and more often than not, no one said anything. It was another aspect of what the Order represented that had sparked a slow rising resentment within her.

Voss. Tholme. Tra Saa. Fisto. Secura. Kenobi.

Skywalker.

All Jedi who she knew had grown far too close to others, sometimes other Jedi, while in the line of the work, struggling with their commitment to their vows, and the choice between pursuing matters of the heart instead of what the Council ordained.

It was easy to see the conflict slowly growing within Aayla when viewed from a third person's perspective. But she wasn't Aayla, and given the twi'lek was still a member of the Jedi Order, Ahsoka was wondering if the woman was setting herself up for more heartbreak.

Ahsoka's bigger concern was whether the others could see similar conflict and desire growing in her own heart.

She vividly remembered what the paintings of Harry's first wives had told him about the apprentice bond. More and more, she felt something far more intimate and revealing in that link than the Padawan bond she had once shared with Anakin Skywalker.

It was a rather startling realization that she was growing feelings towards this human. At first, she tried to ignore, pretending that it was just some form of hero worship towards the man who had repeatedly saved her skin. Then she realized that she had never been as comfortable with someone as she had been with Harry.

She knew that, right now, she should have been panicking. Leaving the Jedi Order should have been a massive change to her life, one that should have been irrecoverable. Instead, she was learning, growing, and still somehow finding herself involved in events at the forefront of the massive conflict that had embroiled the galaxy.

All the while, she'd found someone who made her laugh, who cared nothing for how others saw him, and would instantly drop everything at the barest hint that something was truly wrong and had vexed her. It was easy to flirt with a man who was as attractive as Harry, especially when there were constant compliments, despite being sexually charged, coming right back at her.

Therein lied the crux of her problem. She was no longer a member of the Jedi Order and that was by their choice and hers, so she did not have Aayla's conflict. However what she did have was the unknown.

Did he see her as someone to be interested in? Did he see her as a child? He was centuries her senior, after all. She couldn't even take his flirting as a sign because he flirted and teased everyone. He didn't care if he got a reaction or not. Even if she was an adult, and Harry treated her as such, Harry was still way older than she was. For that matter Harry was possibly older than Yoda. Did that matter? She had no idea how he saw her.

She did know that in many ways, the flirting and outrageous behavior was often a defensive mechanism designed to keep people at arm's length. It was something he defaulted to, trying to get amusement out of life without letting himself be hurt. So when she had flirted back and he had enjoyed it, she found herself doing the same. Which was great in the sense of keeping conversation going and getting her used to, and prepared for, most anything outrageous that would pop out of his mouth. It was less great for determining what he was really thinking or feeling.

Harry was also focusing on finding out what happened to a man who was lost to him. It was the sort of purpose that she honestly sometimes couldn't understand. When she had talked to the portraits, they had told her that Sirius Black was someone important to Harry, his godfather. He had disappeared at a bad time in Harry's life. That his death was the one that haunted Harry his entire life, the first death he believed was absolutely his fault. Finding out what had happened to him had always been there in his mind, and had only grown since he went through the Veil. He just wanted to know what happened to his godfather, as closure.

Ahsoka knew she would do anything within her power if it meant aiding this man find what he was looking for.

The fact that the system they were sneaking into was so heavily protected, with resources the Republic didn't imagine the Separatists had, was something that weighed on all of them too. Whatever was being hidden and guarded here was something that someone was determined to remain hidden at all costs.

Now wasn't the time to pursue something though, especially with the tight quarters and everyone on the ship having almost no personal space? After they'd broken through this blockade, bypassed whatever insane security was present, and infiltrated the massive military presence they'd been able to infer was present, and then made it out alive, then she would pursue it.

If they lived through it all, that is.

Pushing her mind off of those thoughts with an effort. Ahsoka turned her thoughts to the other people on the ship.

Ventress was somewhere in the rear of the ship. The current predicament she had found herself in was a day by day struggle for her, and anyone who happened to interact with her when her emotions flew all over the place. Without Dooku's influence, and without the implants flooding herself with hormones and triggering artificial blood rages, she found she lost the ability to judge how she should interact with people.

While Harry had healed her body, and removed those controls, he hadn't fixed her instincts and conditioned reactions to stimuli. She was struggling to manage those on a day to day basis.

Confrontations and discussions that would have previously set off some aspect of her conditioned Sith responses no longer held any sway over her, leaving her floundering how she should react. Regardless of what she would have done previously, she had no clue how to interact with other people.

No one knew what emotion it was, either respect, regret, or shame, but Ventress consistently stayed as far away as she could from Master Fay, and the elder Jedi obliged her by keeping almost just as far a distance whenever possible.

Ahsoka spent time with the now former Sith every day, and although the woman had snapped at her several times, their former enemy had slowly managed to control her impulses and found her managing to calm herself. Ahsoka had started to teach her Occlumency, at least the basics of it.

Of course these visits were almost always inevitably after Harry had visited her, and managed to get her worked up, angry enough that the woman would still be a mass of clenched muscles, gritted teeth and pieces of the room twisted from the physical manifestation of her emotions.

Harry always left whistling and unharmed, and both of them refused to tell what they had talked about.

Jedi Master Fay was a curious addition. While Ahsoka knew the Jedi Master was working on Occlumency after having it explained to her, she hadn't seemed to need any other demonstration of magic to convince her. She also didn't seem to need to argue with Harry about different faults in the order or perception of the Force.

Instead she had just started asking questions. From the inane to the in-depth. Ahsoka had seen the woman spending time talking to the portraits on the ship far more than she saw her speak to Harry. Some of the conversations Ahsoka overheard were interesting, such as Fay asking questions about governmental structural and educational set ups of the portraits.

Ahsoka had had a few discussions with the woman to find she had an odd perspective on almost every point of discussion that came up on the occasions all of them were present in the same room. Fay had told Ahsoka that she intended to learn about Harry's world, mainly to better understand his frame of reference in order to better help her own context.

Ahsoka found Fay's personality hard to pin down. On one hand, she was more expressive than any Jedi she had encountered. And at times it felt like she had a depth of perspective like Yoda. Then she would laugh at something Harry had just done, something childish enough to make all the others roll their eyes, but Fay didn't seem to mind laughing.

Shaak Ti was the most curious. She had kept relatively to herself. She hadn't made any move to ask Harry to learn magic. She might have been working on Occlumency but she didn't go to Harry asking help. She seemed to be spending most of her time meditating.

Despite the fact that the three Jedi had said that the Force was occasionally offering more insight while they are in Harry's presence, aside from clearing their minds, all of them found that meditating was mostly an exercise in futility. The Force wasn't a calming presence any more. It was still there, but it still seemed to be a storm. They weren't sure if it was their proximity to Harry or if it was a much larger change.

Ahsoka had asked her about it and Shaak Ti had confirmed to the younger Togruta that she had found meditating harder, but the Force could still give flashes of guidance. Shaak Ti had spent most of her time waiting for a spark of guidance from the Force. When Ahsoka had asked what she was waiting for, Shaak Ti had looked at her and said, "If I am going to learn magic, I do not think it is supposed to be from Harry Potter."

Ahsoka had nodded in agreement and went to stand up, when Harry suddenly stepped into the cockpit, his expression serious. He was also once more dressed in the armor that he had worn during the battle at Kashyyyk. She could sense through their connection that he was feeling a myriad of emotions, curiosity, anger, resolve.

One glance back at him had Aayla vacating the captain's seat for him, which he took without hesitation.

"Harry, what's wrong?" Aayla asked, not needing a connection with him to sense that something was amiss.

Harry pulled up the scanner data, reading it over without looking back. "Something… is not right about this planet."

"What do you mean something isn't right?" Aayla asked, her posture instantly becoming tense as she stared out the cockpit canopy at the planet that loomed above them.

"I'm… not sure," Harry responded, looking up from the sensor data at the temperate planet that was slowly growing through the viewport and slumping back into the pilot's chair. He ran a hand over his face. "I've never felt something like this. Certainly not this far away before."

"Something like what?" Ahsoka asked, her gaze fixed on him.

"Death," he said shortly as he glanced at her. He shook his head quickly, cutting off Aayla's follow-up. "Not death as in people have died. And either I'm mistaking it for something else, which is possible. Or something is _really_ wrong on this planet."

He glanced over at Ahsoka once more, "Can you work the sensors? Keep with the passive one. According to the data recovered, whatever installation was installed here was set up to be underground. Shaak Ti said that judging by the tools used, possibly inside of rock, so look for canyons or mountains."

Ahsoka quickly got to work on the passive sensors, while Harry checked their time to target.

"We'll find out how closely they're watching the planet itself here shortly…" Aayla observed quietly into the silence of the cockpit, "Whether or not they're checking the planet for anything all the time or just watching for ships dropping out of hyperspace."

"Well, you all have been recalculating exit vectors like clockwork with the navigation computer. So if we're discovered, getting out of here shouldn't be hard," Harry responded.

"Harry, there are about half a dozen mountain ranges on the planet I can get a read on from here," Ahsoka spoke up.

"Damn," Harry cursed chewing the inside of his cheek in thought, before he lifted his head and narrowed his eyes, concentrating on the odd feeling that seemed to pervade his senses the closer they drew to the planet.

"Okay, what about in that section of the planet?" he pointed toward the area where it was coming from the most strongly.

Ahsoka looked at the scanner results, "There's one small mountain range there. It's a grouping of four mountains into one very large one," she looked up to find Harry had already angled the ship to head in that direction.

"I guess we know where we're headed then," Aayla spoke up needlessly.

**-o0o0o-**

The ship was set down in the shadow of the large mountain not far from a crevice they had on approach. To avoid any sort of detection, Harry actually depowered the ship's reactor halfway into the atmosphere. Something that freaked out every person on board. Harry didn't even smirk at their reactions, focused on the goal. Halfway into a near free fall, he activated runes he had engraved on the ship and utilized magic to essentially float the ship the rest of the way to their destination.

The trip was tense the closer they came to the mountain, mainly because four of women in the ship spoke at once when a very familiar sensation bombarded them. "The Dark Side of the Force is heavy in that mountain," Shaak Ti observed as Harry lead them toward the mountain.

"I sense, there are… multiple Force users there. But…" Fay trailed off, her fingers were rubbing the side of her head. "Everything is so muddled."

Harry didn't react to their statements, he looked back at Ahsoka who was staring up at the mountain as they approached

"There's… something _wrong_ there." Ahsoka said slowly. She ignored the sharp glances from Shaak Ti and Aayla. "It's more than someone using the Dark side. There's something _wrong_."

She felt frustrated, not being able to put it into words, and looked to Harry for support.

His expression was shadowed as he looked at her for several long seconds, before returning to staring at the faint path in front of them. "Someone, or something, is blurring the line between life and death."

That shut everyone up. They weren't used to Harry acting like this, not just serious, but actually scowling as they approached an entrance to a cave. It was a fairly large entrance, but it was obscured fairly well and given the sheer cliff face above it, there was only one approach.

That approach had three powerful gun emplacements to ward off aerial assault. One glance at the guns, an ion cannon and two turbolasers made it clear that the installers meant business. Any large scale assault from the air or land designed to capture the base intact would pay dearly to do so.

"It feels like we're walking into a trap," observed Aayla. Her senses were on high alert and she was looking left and right for any sign a trap was about to be sprung.

"I doubt this would be a trap for any Jedi," Harry said. "This feeling… It's too overt. There are things going on in that place that is literally staining the world around it. Even with my own lack of knowledge of the specifics of what's happening here, you don't do things like this and then start advertising it to the world, expecting to draw your enemies in."

"Then what is it?" asked Fay quietly, her voice small, and her eyes focused on the on the distant mountain that loomed closer and closer as they drew near.

"Necromancy or various malicious acts done to souls after death, has a very distinct feel to it for… people who may be more sensitive to it," Harry glanced at Ahsoka but didn't elaborate.

"In my experience thus far working for Dooku, I have never encountered this feeling," added Ventress.

"Another point to this not being a trap," added Harry. "At least not for us."

Aayla still didn't look convinced, but after everything she had seen Harry do, she was certainly willing to trust him on this. It didn't make the situation any less dangerous, nor assuage the absolute sense of dread that this mountain inspired within her.

As they approached the mouth of the cave, a figure moved out of the darkness. The figure was steel and black. As they got closer and were able to pick out details, they could see a chest and waist that had technology affixed there. There were wires, or tubes that fed into the grey skin of the arms. The fingers were adorned with sharp claws and lightsabers hung on either side of his waist.

His head was a metallic helmet that reminded the Jedi there of the clone trooper armor in dark metallic grey. The front of the mask had the thin shape of a T. A line horizontally where the eyes likely resided, and a line vertically over where the nose and mouth would be. The being gave the overt impression of menace.

"What… is that?" asked Ventress tensely. Her hands on her lightsabers, with a scowl on her face.

"Sith," Shaak Ti said shortly, also shifting to the side.

"No," Fay said quietly, glancing over at the woman who stabbed her, feeling no need to guard her words. "He's a dark acolyte. A failed one."

"What's the difference?" Ventress asked shifting out to the side, her lightsabers in her hands, defensively as she regarded it. .

"He is what you might have been had you fallen farther or perhaps been less useful. Powerful, but twisted and nothing more than a weapon, used as an extension of his Master's will. No Training or specialization. Just a blunt tool, to be used and sacrificed on whatever whim their masters have at any moment."

Fay looked to be about to curl her lip in distaste, a rather atypical emotion for her, but held it in. "Such is the way of the Sith. The _old _Sith. Not the Banites who have run the wreckage of their order for the last thousand years with their self-serving Rule of Two."

Harry's stride hadn't even slowed as they got closer, though Ahsoka glanced at him as she felt a small surge of magic, without any discernable effect.

"Perhaps now is not best for explanations," Shaak Ti commented as they got closer.

"They are incredibly dangerous. Very little self-preservation, and an incredibly deadly foe in combat." Fay said succinctly. "Be wary and on your guard, even if we outnumber him, we may not all survive this fight."

They had reached forty meters from the being, as a wave of the being's hand summoned a lightsaber hilt from its belt, igniting as it travelled upwards before it was held out, pointing directly at the approaching group.

"You are not authorized to be here. Surrender and you will be detained for the Master. Resist and you will be killed." stated a robotic and heavily modulated voice.

Harry stopped in his approach, and threw his hand forward, tossing a small roll of parchment at the being's feet. "I have new orders from the Master."

The being hesitated, looking down at the paper for several seconds. It missed the looks of disbelief on Aayla and Fay as they stared at Harry. Harry ignored their looks, staring at the being in front of them.

Ahsoka realized that, if there were sensors built in the helmet, it was probably scanning for explosives or any other trap.

After several seconds the being reached forward and picked the paper up with the Force. He had to do somewhat carefully given the claws on his hands nor did he shift out of a defensive stance. His lightsaber shifted to a more protective stance.

He began, with some difficulty, to unroll the parchment. "The Master has never established contact in thi-"

"Activate." Harry interrupted.

The dark Force user disappeared with a pop.

"Problem solved," Harry said dryly after a few moments of silence passed, all of the women not quite comprehending what had happened.

"What… what did you do?" Aayla demanded.

"Portkey." Harry said as he resumed his trek into the facility ahead of them. "Was used on a trap sprung on me when I was fourteen to bring a Dark Lord back to life via necromancy. It was also a way I in turn dealt with Dark Lords a time or three. If you don't recognize the magic on them, or know how to resist them, they're a pretty convenient trap. This feeling if necromancy made me think of that kidnapping attempt, and gave me the idea."

Aayla and Shaak Ti both simultaneously shuddered as they remembered their experiences with portkeys back on the planet Kashyyyk.

"Where did you send him?" Ahsoka asked, not much better off than the other two.

"Orbit," Harry responded easily, leading them inside the large cave.

**-o0o0o-**

High above the planet the Guardian reappeared, completely disoriented and spinning in the sudden vacuum and weightlessness.

Unfortunately, while his helmet filtered out biological attacks, he didn't have a supply of air, nor was he prepared for the cold that immediately seeped into his limbs as the oxygen in his blood boiled.

The attached pieces of his suit worked overtime to keep his heart beating and body alive. But less than three minutes later, the Guardian was dead and spinning away into space. His death tripped a sensor inside him, sending a signal to a specific receiver.

Unfortunately it was a short range sensor. The tiny bit of technology was never meant to go further than a few dozen miles from the mountain. The signal didn't reach the mountain, or set off any of the contingencies or alerts the death of the Guardian should have caused.

**-o0o0o-**

"You know it might have been helpful to capture that guy alive," Ahsoka commented as the five of them stood in a lift with a large number of buttons on its internal control panel.

"Maybe," Harry grunted in distraction as he looked at the options on the lift.

"That is… a lot of levels." Fay murmured as she looked at the selection. "This complex must be… massive."

"Well judging by the amount of shipments that the slicer believed ended up here, that's unsurprising," Aayla muttered in response.

"And those are just the shipments she found. There may have been others she missed," Shaak Ti added.

Harry ignored the comments, the entrance was at the base of the mountain, but judging by the lift options, and the current level it listed their group at, they were about a third of the way up the complex.

"Sod this," He muttered, and disappeared with a pop of apparition.

The five women exchanged looks.

"Did he just-" Ventress started only to be cut off once more.

Harry reappeared with a pop. This time with his odd looking droid in tow.

"Minnie, can you see if you can access their system and give us a map of the complex?" Harry asked pointing toward the terminal. "Be cautious. I do not know what sort of defenses you might encounter."

"Of course, Mister Potter," the droid said primly, in the female voice she had been programmed with. Two wires snaked out of her hand and connected to slots in the terminal.

While the group watched the droid patiently, Ahsoka asked curiously, "I've been meaning to ask you Harry, what kind of droid is that?"

"It's actually a prototype," Harry glanced over. "I made a friend two or three years ago. A Lurrian that designs and builds droids for Cybot Galactica. He was experimenting and tinkering with ways to make protocol droids more durable."

"I noticed she had no exposed wires or servomotors," Ahsoka commented.

"He enclosed those under plasteel plating and it's been treated with weather resistant sealant," Harry gestured with a nod of his head, "The casing is shock proof, and as you can see it can access computers similar to astromech or admin droids. Of course, it still has… some quirks."

"I think that you are hardly one to comment on quirks, Master," Ahsoka snorted with an amused grin.

Harry rolled his eyes but didn't reply as the droid shifted once more, though didn't break the connection with the computer.

"This is quite a large installation," Minnie commented as she held up the palm not connected to the computer. The palm flickered and a holographic three dimensional image popped up and hovered in the air.

The group crowded around while Aayla let out a soft whistle. "You weren't kidding… its enormous."

Harry glanced at her with a brief smirk, "That's what they- Hey!" He broke off and rubbed the back of his head where Ahsoka had just swatted him.

Ahsoka just shook her head in remonstration, but didn't comment further.

"Is there any reference in the system to Sirius Black?" Harry asked, his attention focused once more upon the droid.

"Not that I have found." Minnie responded, "The installation layout was easy to access, from this terminal. Accessing anything more than that is unlikely from this terminal as it doesn't have direct access to any files beyond basic layout."

Harry ran a hand through his hair and glanced from the holographic map to Minnie. "Searching this entire complex from top to bottom could take… quite a while. Doing so thoroughly could take a week."

"Can we manage that long in this place without setting off alarms?" asked Ahsoka, her glance occasionally shifting to Harry as if doubting his ability to behave himself.

"We could split up and search. That would massively cut down on the search for anything," Aayla suggested. "And reduce the risk of setting off any alarms."

"'Hey. Here's an idea. Let's split up and search the secret base of someone who by all indications is evil.'" Harry commented sarcastically. "Said no one with any sense of self-preservation… ever."

Aayla glared at Harry, "You realize I've spent some time talking to your wives. That sounds exactly like something you would say."

"I'd say that's my point proven right there," Harry responded dryly as he glanced back down at the map held aloft by the droid.

"I can sense that there are still… Force users inside the mountain." Fay commented lightly. "Separating and wandering around doesn't seem prudent at the moment, no matter what advantages it gives to searching."

"What about labs? Or medical areas?" Shaak Ti asked the droid, ignoring the banter with a glance at Harry, "The slicer's files indicated he was in a bacta tank. If he's still alive then that might be where he'd be. If not, we might find direct access to their system."

The hologram over Minnie's hand flickered, and a section above where they were, suddenly was highlighted a different color. "Those are listed as laboratories and medical bay."

"Can you set the lift to take us there?" Harry asked immediately.

"Of course, Mister Potter," The droid replied as the lift doors closed, and the lift began to move.

"While we're riding down, start archiving anything stored here you can get access to, Minne," Harry added after a few moments of silence as the turbolift moved to the proper level. "It would be a shame to leave the evil mastermind behind all this with a bunch of fancy toy's he's spent decades stealing and hiding them all here."

"Am I the only one concerned that the medical bay and the laboratory are adjacent to one another?" Aayla asked rhetorically.

There was no comment from the rest of the group as the lift rose silently.

When the lift opened on the section, they made their way down the hallway carefully. There was a bit of a shift into defensive stance as a cleaning droid drove past the group, without so much as pausing or stopping.

The facility seemed to have spared no expense other than the staff assigned there. The Guardian who had confronted them appeared to truly be the only organic watchkeeper present, at least as they had discovered thus far.

Places for security checkpoints, blast doors, gun emplacements. All lined the corridors at specific cross-points, yet all remained idle, waiting for the day the facility apparently became fully operational and was manned by troops and workers.

They made their way through room after room of different lab set ups, most of which seemed to be in standby mode at the moment. There were a pair of rooms that droids were moving about and seemed to be in an automated process of doing _something._ Though none of them were expert enough to be sure what exactly they were doing.

This continued as the group explored several floors, five in total that all seemed to be lab areas. Ventress commented on the amount of expense that must have gone into the equipment contained in those sections alone. Something, none of the rest of them could find any disagreement with the observation. But none of them contained any people. So the group headed up to the medical bay.

The medical bays, like the labs, were expensively appointed. The group began to explore, but Harry's attention was drawn to a terminal inside the first section of the second floor of the med bay. Upon examination, it appeared that Minnie would be capable of connecting to it, so Harry moved over to it, gesturing for Minnie to follow him, "See if you can access the system better from this one."

"Of course, Mister Potter." Minnie stated as the droid hooked up to that terminal much like it had done to the first one.

"See if you can find any reference to any long-term patients here. Specifically, Sirius Black," Harry commanded as the droid hooked in.

"I will notify you immediately, sir" Minnie replied.

Harry was going to reply, when he heard Ahsoka call out his name, "Harry, I think you need to see this!"

He glanced up and found the rest of the group had moved further into the med bay, and he rushed forward quickly, through two sections to catch up to the group. He reached the group who had all arrived at Ahsoka's call. It didn't take long to find out what she was staring at.

In front of them was a bacta tank, lit by florescent light. Bubbles flowed through it signaling that it was still active.

Inside the tank was a human male. He looked incredibly aged, even in the liquid. Wrinkles covered his body. He had the standard equipment to allow him to breathe in the liquid while submerged. He also had a piece covering his waist and lower area to remove any waste. Otherwise he was completely nude and completely bald from head to toe.

But Ahsoka was pointing at something from the side. Harry moved over to her and followed the direction she was pointing.

On the man's hand sat a ring.

A ring Harry had not seen since he arrived in this galaxy.

**-o0o0o-**

**Author's notes:**

**Hey. I'm not dead. REALLY! See! *waves* School was hard this semester X_X but I survived! See! :O And managed to bribe my muse into doing something on this story. **

**Plums is not dead either. Yes I kidnapped him. But I I remembered to feed him on occasion. **

**1) This was a bit harder than normal chapter to write because I was prepared to introduce a new character and at the same time didn't want to roll through a whole new "get to know you" scene set, further grinding the pacing of this story to a halt. Twas hard. I like to think I've struck a good balance. I'm also going to re-iterate it here. **

**Just because a female appears in the story, does not mean she is going to be paired with any one or lots of people. Please keep that in mind when you start shouting at me about the current ratio of guys to girls. :P **

**2) Seriously… there were some people that really surprised me that they were able to guess the direction I'm planning on going. O_O maybe. I tend to change directions on impulse sometimes. Something that makes plums want to bend me over and spank me. **

**Also, the droid is a real droid. Wookiepedia it if you're curious. It's a real thing. PD Series Protocol Droid. **

**3) Yes we're using Wayland, and Mount Tantiss. No, we're just getting started in there. We'll see where it ends up taking us! **

**4) Plums Ponderous Ponderings:**

**In the interest of moving the story forward, yes, we placed a timeskip in this. This goes back to what we said about 10 or so chapters ago, where travel between systems will take "time", and we're really not going to get bogged down too deeply in the details of it.**

**As much as I personally wanted to do a deep-dive character study into what would happen on that six weeks on the ship and how relationships may/may not have progressed, it ultimately would've been rather boring, so we skipped it. (Kat: Considering the first 200k words or so covered 6 weeks, i figured it was necessary)**

**It'll all get fleshed out more soon. Hopefully we hinted enough at things this chapter to satisfy some folks.**

**Alternate Chapter Titles**

"**Harry gets his tongue on Aayla." - Harry**

"I… can't even. No. Just no."- Aayla.

"**Epic Harry versus Jedi Knock down drag out… or not." - Ahsoka.**

"Oh c'mon! I didn't even get a name in EU, and you're telling me that's how I died?!" - The Guardian.

"**Splitting up covers more ground." - Aayla**

"NO!" - Anyone who has ever seen a horror movie.

"Really, the only thing that would lead to a faster death would be someone wandering off alone to try and find the power. Or a phone." - Horror movie connoisseur.

"Actually, now that I think about it, the Jedi would probably be safe." - Harry

"I know i'm going to regret asking this, but why?" - Ahsoka

"Well. You don't drink. You don't do drugs. You have no reason to randomly show your tits, and you don't have sex. Hell… you're practically knife, hook, and chainsaw proof." - Harry.

"What does that make your chances?" - Ahsoka

"I have a special exemption as Fate's bitch." - Harry

"**I spy with my yellow eyes, people's medical reports!" - Palpatine**

"That's… creepy as hell. Pervert." - Ahsoka.

"No, it's just another way for me to manipulate and twist people to my bidding!"- Palpatine

"No. I'm pretty confident about my assessment of creepy pervert." - Ahsoka

"**Somebody is messing with the line between life and death."- Harry**

"That never ends well for people." - Voldemort

"Seriously? What the hell? I keep telling you, you're not in this!" - Harry

"Ooooh! But I totally could be, some part of me could have fallen through the veil and possessed people in this universe and grow my power with a whole galaxy to conquer and bow to my will! MWAHAHAHA." - Voldemort

"No. Just no. Go back to your other stories." – Harry

"But… but… please?" – Voldemort

"No."- Harry

*pouts* - Voldemort

"**Dobby Wins!" - Dobby**

"BWA HA HA HA" - Tonks

"-" Daphne with a raised eyebrow and smirk on her lips

"Nooooooo!" - Harry.

"That's my line!" - Vader

"Not unless George Lucas edits this for a special edition." - Fans.


End file.
